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DISCOURSE 



PREACHED ON SUNDAY MORNING, MARCH 13, 1859, 
BY EEV. EZRA S( GANNETT; 



ADDRESSES 



DELIVERED IN THE AFTERNOON OF THAT DAY, 



REV. S. B. CRUFT, REV. A. SMITH, 

REV. F. W. HOLLAND, REV. R. P. ROGERS, 
REV. R. C. WATERS TON. 



Witf) an ^pjjenDtj:. 



BOSTON: 
CROSBY, NICHOLS, LEE, AND CO. 
1860. 





BOSTON: 
PRINTED BY JOHN WILSON AND 

22, School Street. 



SERVICES 

AT 

SUNDAY, MARCH 13, 1859. 

A. M. 

W ohmtarg artb ^ri%m. 

VERSES FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT. 

HYMN I. — L.M. 

(Sung at the Dedication, Nov. 22, 1809; being the 100th Psalm of 
Belknap's Collection.) 

PRAYER. 



READING FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT. 



HYMN. 

WRITTEN FOR THE OCCASION. 

Farewell, ye walls ! though, in your sacred square, 
The feet of many a saint have loved to walk ; 
Farewell, ye walls ! though, through your charmed air, 
Echoes, and more than echoes, seem to talk. 

Oh ! not within the house that man has reared, 
Or man has hallowed, is God's Spirit bound : 
It runs and sanctifies, adored, endeared ; 
For ever present and sufficient found. 

Nor let us think, that all the fervid speech, 
The preacher utters when his triumphs come, 
Has more of human worth or heavenly reach 
Than the heart's prayer that rises and is dumb. 



4 



MEMORIAL OF THE 



"We thank Thee, Father ! for thy good gifts here, 
In spoken word and feeling unexpressed : 
Let thy full grace be, as aforetime, near, 
Go with our steps, and lodge where'er we rest. 

Now lift the Ark, God's testimonial sign ! 
May Union hold it by its golden rings ; 
His Law laid up within its awful shrine, 
Its lid arched over with the cherubs' wings ! 



SERMON. 



PRAYER. 



DOXOLOGY. 

From all that dwell below the skies 
Let the Creator's praise arise ; 
Let the Redeemer's name be sung, 
Through every land, by every tongue. 



BENEDICTION. 

P.M. 

$ohmtarg anb JSenta*. 
PRAYER BY REV. CHARLES F. BARNARD. 



READING OF SCRIPTURES BY REV. JAMES I. T. COOLIDGE. 



READING OF HYMN BY REV. THOMAS DAWES. 

WRITTEN FOR THE OCCASION. 

Thou who didst aid our sires to raise 
Of old this house of prayer and praise ; 
Thou who hast here thy influence given, 
And made this place the gate of heaven, — 



FEDERAL-STREET MEETING-HOUSE. 



5 



As from this sacred shrine we part, 
Quicken each soul, inspire each heart ; 
And bless in love the hallowed Past, 
While the immortal ages last. 

Great Source of life ! oh, grant each hour 
Thy guiding hand, thy quickening power ! 
The Future, Lord, with trust and prayer, 
We leave to thy protecting care. 



ADDRESS BY REV. SAMUEL B. CRUFT. 



ADDRESS BY REV. FREDERIC W. HOLLAND. 



READING OF HYMN BY REV. EDWARD C. GUILD. 

WRITTEN FOR THE OCCASION. 

Farewell to aisle and altar ! 

What bear we forth to-day, 
As from these sacred portals 

We slowly pass away ? 

Not fragrant censers, flinging 

Sweet vapors on the air ; 
Nor pictured saints and angels, 

Nor sacred vessels rare. 

But, from our hearts arising, 

Incense of prayer and praise ; 
And, clear on Memory's canvas, 

The forms of other days ; 

One who here stood and taught us, 

From out the holy Book, 
Divinest truth and highest, 

With thrilling tone and look ; 

Words holy men have uttered 

Within this house of prayer ; 
Thoughts of the loved and vanished, — 

Upon our hearts we bear. 



MEMORIAL OF THE FEDERAL-STREET MEETING-HOUSE. 



Each treasure we have gathered 
Of memory, faith, or love, 

Bear we from out this temple 
To our Father's house above. 



ADDRESS BY REV. AMOS SMITH. 



ADDRESS BY REV. ROBERT P. ROGERS. 



ADDRESS BY REV. ROBERT C. WATERSTON. 



HYMN. 

WRITTEN FOE THE OCCASION. 

The hour has come when we must leave 
This temple loved and hallowed long ; 

"Whose walls have witnessed many a scene, 
Making our hearts and hopes more strong. 

So half a century has fled ; 

So time through constant change will move : 
But Thou, great God ! hast been the same ; 

Still bless us with thy ceaseless love. 

Another temple we will raise, 

Where present Thou, O Lord ! wilt be ; 
And there, as here, our souls, in praise, 

Will join in songs and prayer to Thee. 

United may we still remain, 

A' living church to win thy love ; 
And may we long his service claim 

Who guides us to thy house above ! 

Let habit's chain and memory's charm 
Not bind us to one scene or place ; 

But may our constant hearts unite 
To glorify thy boundless grace ! 



BENEDICTION BY THE PASTOR. 



A 



DISCOURSE 

PREACHED IN THE FEDERAL- STREET MEETING-HOUSE, 
on the last sunday of its use for public worship, 
March 13, 1859. 

BY EZEA S. GANNETT, 

MINISTER OF THE CONGREGATION. 



DISCOURSE. 



Haggai ii. 3 : " Who is left among you that saw this house in her 

FIRST GLORY? " 

To the thoughtful and candid observer, life is a con- 
stant disclosure of the wisdom that superintends 
human affairs. Conditions of existence, gently but 
rigidly enforced, surround us on every side. Freedom 
is maintained only under subjection to an infinite 
"Will. Contingency is not allowed to overthrow 
law. 

One of the conditions of existence with man, as 
with every created thing, is change. We live in the 
midst of mutability. Forms and appearances, me- 
thods and means, change. The individual disappears, 
after numberless vicissitudes that have entered into 
his experience. Generations pass away. The earth 
and the heavens change. Nothing is permanent hut 
God and truth, dependence and want. Yet over all 
the instability of mortal things presides the eternal 
Wisdom, like sunshine falling on the restless waters, 
to give assurance of safety. He in whose hand the 

2 



10 



MEMORIAL OF THE 



universe lies secure will not let fluctuation and decay 
prevail against the good of his creatures. Other 
agencies are brought into exercise. The principle of 
compensation takes effect. That which perishes in 
one form abides in another. What the eye loses, the 
heart retains. The sentiments never die. Recollec- 
tion and hope provide an equivalent for present pain. 
Inconstancy becomes an element of instruction, and 
life is enriched with treasured memories and sacred 
associations. 

The circumstances under which we are met remind 
us of these familiar truths. After this day, the build- 
ing in which we are assembled will throw open its 
doors, as an invitation to worship, no more. The 
demand of those social tendencies which it is vain to 
resist compels us to leave a spot endeared by holy 
uses. It is a sad hour with many of us. For years, 
this has been the home of our ecclesiastical life. 
Hither have we brought our joys and our sorrows, 
that they might be sanctified and blessed. Here 
have we lifted up our silent prayers, and bowed the 
reverent heart. Here have we sat together at 
the Master's feet, and looked with tearful eyes on his 
cross. Here have we studied the lessons of Provi- 
dence, beneath the light of the unclouded gospel. 
Here have we consecrated ourselves to duty, and, 
again, on this altar have laid our confession of unfaith- 
ful service. Within these walls have they who are 
now worshipping in a higher temple prostrated their 



FEDERAL-STREET MEETING-HOUSE. 11 

souls before the invisible Presence, and learned the 
rudiments of the celestial speech. In this pulpit 
stood the friend, preacher, saint, whose name is the 
watchword of our faith and the oracle of our hearts. 
On this spot have been held the annual assemblies of 
our brethren, who, from widely separated parts of the 
land, have regarded this house with an almost filial 
interest. A thousand tender remembrances throng 
upon us, which can never be dissociated from the 
place. To-day, however, we observe our farewell 
solemnities. Constrained by circumstances beyond 
our control, we have yielded to the compulsion, and 
relinquish to secular uses the ground hallowed by a 
century and a quarter of ecclesiastical immunity. 
For a long time has it been foreseen by those who 
marked the changes in the character of the population, 
and the aspect of the streets, in this part of the city, 
that this day must come. Three distinct attempts 
have been made, within the last fifteen years, to pro- 
cure a site to which we might remove without too 
great inconvenience to a majority of the congregation. 
A fourth has resulted in a choice, which, though unac- 
ceptable to some, has been approved by the judgment 
of the larger number, as the best at our command. 
Painful as it is to leave a place with which we are con- 
nected by some of the deepest experiences of the inner 
life, the way has seemed to be pointed out by the finger 
of Providence. Sentiment has added its warmth to the 
decision of the cooler judgment ; for they who loved 



12 



MEMORIAL OF THE 



the memories of the past, when the alternative of 
decay and extinction, or removal and permanence, 
was brought before them, were impelled by a reve- 
rential gratitude to sacrifice the material structure 
to the spiritual union. Our decision has been made ; 
I hope, not unwisely ; I trust, not to the production 
of any permanent discontent ; I am sure, with as 
near an approach to unanimity as could have been 
expected. 

In the mingled feelings which this day is suited to 
awaken, we can all sympathize. Over our sadness is 
spread the glow of a common property in the historic 
associations of this religious society. The last hour 
of our worship in this house can be spent in no 
way more agreeable, I may presume, to your wishes 
or expectations, than in recalling the events of our 
parochial life. If this building alone would be deli- 
vered over to other uses than those through which it 
has become dear to us, we might confine ourselves to 
the period which to our minds it represents, and to the 
ministry which, during the greater part of that period, 
lifted d it into a distinction enjoyed by few similar 
structures. Even with the task so narrowed, how 
few of you, my friends, would be able, by personal 
recollection, to confirm the accuracy of my references 
to the commencement of this period ! "What a 
change do fifty years make in the members of a Chris- 
tian congregation ! " Who is left among you that saw 
this house in its first glory," on the day when it was 



FEDERAL-STREET MEETING-HOUSE. 



13 



dedicated to the worship of Almighty God ? Whole 
families have disappeared, and a very different con- 
gregation now occupy these seats from that which 
originally filled them. It is not to the last half- 
century, however, that I may confine myself. The 
ground on which this building rests has passed out of 
our possession, and we must leave that also to be 
seized for its own purposes by the insatiate spirit of 
traffic. We are led back, therefore, by the character 
of our present service, to the origin of this society, 
and must trace its growth and fortunes from that 
hour to the present. Brief will be the sketch I shall 
lay before you ; for the facts to which I shall need to 
advert are few. 

The congregation connected with the Presbyterian 
meeting-house in Long Lane, as it was originally 
called, like the community in the bosom of which it 
arose, owes its existence to the hardships to which 
honest men were subjected on the other side of the 
Atlantic. In the year 1727, a company of persons — 
" religious, moral, and industrious people," as they 
are, doubtless justly, described by one of their de- 
scendants — emigrated from the northern counties of 
Ireland to Boston ; induced to take this step in part 
by considerations of a worldly nature, but chiefly 
by their desire to enjoy civil and religious liberty. 
Hereditary associations, however, connected them 
with Great Britain rather than with Ireland ; their 
ancestors having, about a century earlier, crossed from 



MEMORIAL OF THE 



Scotland to the sister isle. Like other similar emi- 
grants who established themselves in the Province of 
New Hampshire, they were, therefore, known as 
Scotch-Irish. The records of marriages and births, 
which are the only written memorials extant of the first 
years of our parochial history, afford, in the names 
which they present, abundant proof of this mixed 
lineage; the Scotch element having largely the pre- 
ponderance. Soon after their arrival, their religious 
habits led them to seek a place of social worship ; 
and, as tradition affirms, they bought a piece of 
ground at the corner of Bury Street and Long Lane, 
on which stood a barn, which they converted into a 
rude, but probably comfortable, meeting-house. The 
superintendence of the alteration was intrusted to one 
of the company, between whom and the other mem- 
bers a dispute arose as the work proceeded, of so 
serious a nature that it was necessary to submit the 
matter to arbitration ; and the terms in which, 
according to the decision of the referees, the property 
was conveyed to the congregation by their agent, 
against any future claim on his part, became the 
occasion of the suit in which, a few years ago, we were 
obliged to defend our title in a court of law, and 
which, on every one of the points raised in the case, 
was decided in our favor. 

The history which has this beginning includes two 
other events, which divide it into three distinct 
periods: the first extending from 1729, which ap- 



FEDERAL-STREET MEETING-HOUSE. 



15 



pears to have been the year in which worship was 
first held on this spot, to 1786, when the society, of 
their own will, exchanged the Presbyterian for the 
Congregational form of church discipline ; the second, 
from 1786 to 1819, at which time they may be said 
to have unequivocally renounced the Trinitarian 
faith, by the sympathy which they showed with their 
minister after the delivery of his sermon at the ordi- 
nation of Mr. Sparks in Baltimore ; and the third 
reaching from that time to the present. The first of 
these periods includes the ministries of Mr. Moorhead 
and Mr. Annan ; the second, those of Dr. Belknap 
and Dr. Fopkin, with the first sixteen years of Dr. 
Channing's ; the third, the last twenty-three years of 
Dr. Channing's life, and the subsequent seventeen 
years. 

The first minister of the congregation was the Rev. 
John Moorhead, who was born near Belfast, in Ire- 
land ; was graduated at the University in Edinburgh ; 
and came to this country a young man, but whether 
before or after receiving ordination is unknown. 
For at least forty-four years, he was the faithful 
pastor of the flock, which increased under his over- 
sight. In six years, the number of communicants 
had risen, it is said, to about two hundred and fifty. 
The meeting-house was enlarged by the addition of 
two wings ; and afterwards, in 1 744, was replaced by 
a more convenient and sightly edifice, bearing a gene- 
ral resemblance to the New-England meeting-houses 



16 



MEMORIAL OF THE 



of that day. Mr. Moorhead, if I may judge from what 
is known of him, had strong traits of character. His 
abilities must have been respectable, and his profes- 
sional labors constant. Severe, perhaps, in manner, 
and inclined to an exercise of clerical authority which 
in our loose times would not be tolerated, he secured 
the warm respect of his people by his interest in their 
concerns, temporal and spiritual, his plain and affec- 
tionate remonstrance in every case of delinquency, 
his solicitude for their religious welfare, his impartial 
treatment of all classes, and his unquestioned personal 
worth. In his preaching, he relied on the solidity 
of his matter, rather than on any grace of style ; but 
his sermons derived from an earnest delivery more 
than could have been given them by rhetorical orna- 
ment. Conscientiously attached to the Presbyterian 
church, and decidedly Calvinistic in his faith, he 
nearly filled out a half-century of professional ser- 
vice ; and died on the 2d of December, 1773, having 
preached on the previous Sunday without any appa- 
rent decay of his usual force. His name should be 
held in honored remembrance, as that of a useful and 
devoted minister of Christ. 

Our acquaintance with the history of the congrega- 
tion during Mr. Moorhead's life, and for some time 
later, is derived almost wholly from the scanty notices, 
which can be found in one and another publication, 
prepared from a few memoranda of an earlier date or 
from reminiscences furnished by some of the sur- 



FEDERAL-STREET MEETING-HOUSE. 



IT 



vivors of that period. The records alike of the 
society and of the church for many years, with the ex- 
ception of the register of baptisms and marriages to 
which I have alluded, are irrecoverably lost. How 
or when they disappeared, it is impossible to say. It 
has often been repeated, but I do not know on what 
authority, that certain members of the society, royal- 
ists in the time of the Revolution, fled to Nova Scotia 
with other refugees, and took the records with them : 
an improbable story, yet entitled to some credence in 
the want of any other and better explanation. 

An interval of ten years followed the death of Mr. 
Moorhead, during which the society sensibly declined, 
though with occasional tokens of inherent vigor. One 
emphatic proof of vitality was given in their relin- 
quishment of a connection with the presbytery of 
which they had formed a part, in consequence of 
what they considered improper interference with their 
arrangements, — an intimation of the spirit which 
they exhibited a few years later, when they adopted 
the principle of Congregational independence as the 
basis of their ecclesiastical state. For a short time 
previous to this change, they put themselves under 
the care of a presbytery in New York ; but in 1786, 
of their own free will and by a formal vote, they 
renounced the Presbyterian order of church polity 
entirely and for ever. With this act commenced the 
second period in their history. We have seen them a 
united and prosperous people under their faithful 

3 



IS 



MEMORIAL OF THE 



minister. " They were poor," said the preacher of 
fifty years ago ; 44 but it was an honest poverty, 
cheered and adorned by religion." The troublous 
times of the Revolution could not but affect their 
condition. They became weakened by external trials 
and internal divisions. In 1783, the Rev. Robert 
Annan was installed as their pastor ; but he remained 
a short time only. Infelicities of temper seem to 
have prevented his restoring the harmony which was 
needed alike for comfort and for strength. In 1786, 
he left them, and became the minister of a congrega- 
tion in the city of Philadelphia ; whence he afterwards 
removed to Baltimore, and subsequently made his 
home in the interior of Pennsylvania. 

Having taken the conduct of their affairs into their 
own hands, the society in Long Lane invited the Rev. 
Jeremy Belknap to become their minister. A native 
of Boston, a graduate of Harvard College, a teacher 
while pursuing his preparation for the pulpit, and 
then for nearly twenty years engaged in the active 
duties of his profession, while, at the same time, he 
cherished habits of careful study, entered into a wide 
correspondence, and made himself favorably known 
beyond the sphere of his personal influence, Dr. Bel- 
knap was admirably qualified to fill the place which 
he accepted, having been compelled to leave Dover by 
the inadequacy of the compensation provided for his 
domestic necessities. His settlement in Boston was 
as happy an event for the town as for the congrega- 



FEDERAL-STREET MEETING-HOUSE. 



19 



tion of which he assumed the charge. The interest 
which he took in all literary and humane enterprises, 
his ardent patriotism, the genial qualities of his heart 
and the blameless tenor of his life, his constant indus- 
try and professional fidelity, made him an object of 
universal respect and esteem. His intellect, though 
neither brilliant nor massive, had that element of 
available and persistent force which men of genius 
often lack. His tastes led him to choose a depart- 
ment of study which was then little cultivated in this 
country. Historical and antiquarian research em- 
ployed a large part of the time that was at his dis- 
posal. The Massachusetts Historical Society, which 
within our own day has called laborious talent and 
eloquent speech into its service, may claim him as its 
founder. His " History of New Hampshire " and his 
" American Biography " attest the diligence and im- 
partiality of his investigations, and will remain sources 
of valuable information to future writers. His ser- 
mons were plain and practical: controversy he dis- 
liked. His theological opinions are sufficiently 
indicated by the concluding paragraph of the preface 
to his Collection of "Psalms and Hymns:" — 4fc In 
this selection, those Christians who do not scruple to 
sing praises to their Redeemer and Sanctifler will find 
materials for such a sublime enjoyment ; whilst 
others, whose tenderness of conscience may oblige 
them to confine their addresses to the Father only, will 
find no deficiency of matter suited to their idea of 



20 



MEMORIAL OF THE 



6 the chaste and awful spirit of devotion.' " This pub- 
lication alone would entitle him to our high respect. 
Its superiority, in point of doctrine and taste, to the 
books which had been previously used ; the broad 
catholicity of its tone ; and its general excellence as a 
manual of sacred poetry, — make it one of the land- 
marks by which we trace the progress of religious 
thought in this country. Superseded, it can never be 
forgotten. It was adopted by many of the liberal 
congregations of this town and neighborhood. By 
this society, it was retained in use for forty years after 
the death of its compiler. 

Dr. Belknap's weight of character, and mental 
accomplishments, may be inferred from the influence 
which he acquired in a ministry that extended over 
but eleven years. At the age of fifty-four, he was 
suddenly removed from usefulness on earth to the 
recompense of the just on high : suddenly, yet not 
without such previous warning as had deepened his 
sense of the uncertainty of life. Still, in the midst of 
his usual health, he was struck by the blow, which, 
in a few hours, set his spirit free. There are some in 
this congregation from whose memories his image has 
not faded away. One name only, of the seven ap- 
pended to the letter which invited him to Boston, do 
we still find on the list of our parochial households ; 
but other names on that list are borne by descendants 
of those who were then active members of the congre- 
gation, themselves the inheritors of blessings which 



FEDERAL-STREET MEETING-HOUSE. 



21 



he invoked on their young heads. They will not 
think that their ears have now been abused by terms 
of eulogistic admiration. 

It was soon after Dr. Belknap's removal to Boston, 
that the meeting-house which then stood on this spot 
was used for a purpose that has given it an imperish- 
able celebrity in the annals of our Commonwealth. 
The Convention which assembled in this town on the 
9th of January, 1788, for the purpose of ratifying or 
rejecting the Constitution, or " Frame of Government 
for the United States," which had been reported by 
the Federal Convention at Philadelphia, held their 
first sessions at the State House : but, finding the 
accommodations which that edifice could offer them 
too narrow, adjourned, after one or two trials of the 
meeting-house in Brattle Street, to this place ; where 
the pews on the ground-floor were appropriated to 
members of the Convention, the galleries were given 
up to spectators, and the pulpit was, by vote, " as- 
signed for the gentlemen of the clergy who might be 
in town," — a circumstance not unworthy of notice, 
as marking the attitude of the times. Certain tempo- 
rary conveniences were added by the Proprietors, at 
their own expense; and here the Convention, after 
almost a month spent in earnest debate, did, on the 
6th of February, 1788, by a majority of nineteen 
votes out of three hundred and fifty-five, " in the 
name and in behalf of the people of the Common- 
wealth of Massachusetts, assent to and ratify the said 



22 



MEMORIAL OF THE 



Constitution for the United States of America." In 
consequence of this act, the street, which had before 
been known by the somewhat discourteous designa- 
tion of Long Lane, received the memorable name of 
Federal Street ; not, however, by a decision of the 
municipal authorities, or of the inhabitants " in legal 
town-meeting assembled," but by the spontaneous 
and enthusiastic declaration of the people, as on the 
13th of February, " in grand procession," to use 
the words of the document issued at the time, they 
moved through the streets, and enjoined on all their 
fellow-citizens to adopt this name, for the sake, among 
other reasons given, of" insuring domestic tranquillity, 
and providing for the diffusion of federal sentiments." 
Associated, by such occurrences, with the purest prin- 
ciples and best hopes of American patriotism ; ac- 
knowledging, through its name, the value of the 
liberty and the union which are the corner-stones of 
our political existence, — this spot has ever remained 
faithful to its historical endowment. When the dis- 
course of the preacher has turned aside from more 
sacred themes to speak of the civil interests of the 
land, liberty and union have been the lights by which 
he has been guided. 

The ministry which succeeded Dr. Belknap's was 
of short duration ; not from any real disability of the 
incumbent, nor from discontent on the part of the 
people, but from the extreme conscientiousness and 
painful diffidence of the Rev. John Snelling Popkin. 



FEDERAL-STREET MEETING-HOUSE. 



23 



Ordained on the 10th of July, 1799, he insisted, 
after a service of three years, on a dismission ; which 
was finally granted in November, 1802. His self- 
distrust is manifest in the letters which he addressed 
to the Proprietors, entreating them to release him 
from his pastoral connection. In one of these com- 
munications, he speaks of his "strong impression that 
he can no longer hope to be useful to the society, 
even with the enjoyment of health and tranquillity," 
both of which had been impaired by an indulgence of 
morbid feeling. " I cannot," he adds, " conceal the 
mortification that I suffer, when I consider that my 
ministry with you has proved such a disappointment." 
The people reluctantly yielded to a request prompted 
by a judgment in which they could not concur. Two 
years later, Mr. Popkin was installed over a congrega- 
tion in Newbury ; where he remained till the year 
1815, when he accepted an invitation to fill a professor- 
ship at Cambridge. Here he found employment and 
society agreeable to his quiet tastes and sensitive tem- 
perament. At Newbury, he was greatly beloved, and 
proved himself, if not a popular preacher, a devoted 
minister of Jesus Christ ; consecrating himself to the 
service of his people, as one who knew him well has 
said, " with a fidelity and disinterestedness that 
gained him their constant approbation, respect, and 
gratitude." At the University, his eccentricities were 
a subject of pleasant remark, but never of derision. 
Simple in his ways, studious in his habits, gentle in 



24 



MEMORIAL OF THE 



spirit, a thorough classical scholar, a constant reader 
of the Bible, a firm believer, a meek disciple of the 
Lord, — I speak from my own recollection, when I 
say that we should as soon have thought of forfeiting 
our manliness as of treating Dr. Popkin with disre- 
spect. His religious faith connected him with the 
advocates of the prevalent theology of his times ; but 
his spirit kept him from extreme opinions of any kind. 
He took no sectarian name, and admitted into his 
mind no bitter prejudice. The last nineteen years of 
his life were passed in tranquil retirement in Cam- 
bridge, where he died at an advanced age. Peace to 
the memory of an honored and beloved instructor! 

The vacancy created by Mr. Popkin's resignation 
was, after a few months, filled by the choice of the 
Rev. William Ellery Channing as his successor. The 
ordination took place on the 1st of June, 1803. Of 
him, I need not speak before this audience ; yet how 
can I be silent ] The lapse of sixteen years has not 
effaced the impression he made on our minds, nor 
extinguished the sensibility with which we pronounce 
his name. To tell you of his birthplace or his educa- 
tion ; to delineate his character or to describe his 
influence ; to trace the course of his ministry or the 
growth of his reputation ; to define the position 
which he held as a theologian or as a philanthropist; 
to repeat the truths which touched his lips with a 
holy fervor, or to translate into cold words the enthu- 
siasm which he enkindled, — would be to undertake 



FEDERAL-STREET MEETING-HOUSE. 



25 



a task with which you are yourselves familiar. Of 
the personal qualities which endeared him to our 
hearts ; of the purity of life which inspired a reve- 
rence that chastened our love ; of the persuasion that 
dwelt on his tongue ; of the prayers that opened the 
gates of heaven to our souls ; of the tenderness that 
pitied the wrong-doer, or the faithfulness that rebuked 
his sin ; of the holy seasons which we have spent in 
this house, when, caught by the spell of his dis- 
course, our thoughts have left the world, and risen to 
God ; of the awe-struck delight with which we have 
followed him into the secrecy of the Saviour's media- 
torial work ; of all we have learned and all we have 
enjoyed, through our privilege of near approach to 
him, — I need not speak in terms that would but 
poorly represent your own experience. On his rela- 
tion to our community and to the world, to our age 
and to future time, I will not enlarge. It is of his 
connection with this religious society, that I may 
now say that which shall be true to the past and to 
the present, to the instruction no longer heard and 
to the influence that cannot die. 

Mr. Channing found this congregation in a feeble 
state. He gave to their invitation the preference 
over one that in some respects might have seemed 
more advantageous, because their number was small 
and the members were comparatively humble. Not 
ambitious of distinction, he wished for an opportunity 
of bringing the gospel, which was his study and his 

4 



26 



MEMORIAL OF THE 



joy, near to the consciousness of careless or strug- 
gling souls ; and this was a work which, he thought, 
might be better done with a small than with a large 
society. His physical powers, too, were unequal to 
the demand which would have been made on them 
by the wants of a numerous congregation. He there- 
fore came to Federal Street. But the audience which 
he did not seek sought him, and they who heard 
desired a closer union with the preacher. The thinly 
occupied seats were filled ; the worshippers outgrew 
their place of meeting ; and seven years had not 
passed away, before that humble minister, with his 
slightly built frame and unostentatious labor, had 
gathered around him such a company of friends, that 
the erection of a more spacious edifice had become 
indispensable. The building in which to-day, for the 
last time, we hold our religious services, sprang from 
a perception of that necessity. It lacks but one 
month of a half-century since the corner-stone was 
laid. A report, explanatory of the principles that 
should be followed in making a transfer of property 
from the old house to one that should take its 
place, was offered on the 9th of January, 1809, to a 
meeting of the Proprietors, at which nineteen were 
present, of whom two only are now living: one, at 
that time clerk of the society, afterwards an officer 
of the church, and now an honored representa- 
tive of the past, whose sympathies still bind him to 
the sanctuary which bodily infirmities seldom allow 



FEDERAL-STREET MEETING-HOUSE. 27 

him to enter ; the other, a resident of our city, but a 
worshipper at another altar. How pertinent the 
question addressed to those who meditated the re- 
building of their ancient temple, — " Who is left 
among you that saw this house in its first glory ? " — 
with the fresh consecration of prayer upon its walls ! 
Those walls have not yet fallen into ruins ; but cir- 
cumstances, as inexorable as the armies that plun- 
dered Jerusalem, drive us from their shelter. The 
dropping leaves of another autumn will mark the close 
of the fiftieth year since this house was first opened 
for public worship. The dedicatory services were 
held on the morning of Nov. 23, 1809. The notice 
taken of the occasion in the newspapers of the week 
suggests, by its brevity, a comparison with the details 
of local intelligence that fill the columns of our pre- 
sent journals. I had hoped to find some description 
that would supply the dearth of parochial memo- 
randa ; but all the satisfaction my curiosity has 
obtained was drawn from a paragraph embracing 
these half-dozen lines : " On Thursday, the new and 
beautiful meeting-house, built in imitation of the 
Gothic style, in Federal Street, was solemnly dedicated 
to the service of Almighty God. The introductory 
prayer and services by the Rev. Dr. Kirkland ; the 
dedicatory sermon (from Psalm c. 2 and 4) by Rev. 
Mr. Channing, the pastor of the congregation ; and 
the concluding prayer by the Rev. Dr. Lathrop." To 
another paper published in the town we are indebted 



28 



MEMORIAL OF THE 



for the knowledge, of which we have made a partial 
use to-day, that 44 Psalms 87, 100, and 132 were sung 
in the course of the services by an excellent choir." 
Dr. Channing's sermon was founded on the text, 
" Serve the Lord with gladness : come before his pre- 
sence with singing. Enter into his gates with thanks- 
giving, and into his courts with praise." It is a 
simple, affectionate, and deeply religious discourse, 
presenting the characteristics of thought and expres- 
sion that marked the preaching of his earlier years, be- 
fore he had reached the lofty freedom and broad vision 
which distinguish his later productions. He proposes 
five several reasons why the people should enter their 
new house with joy : on account of " the worship to 
which it is devoted ; " " the instruction to which also 
it is devoted ; " 44 its happy influence on their temper 
and dispositions towards their fellow-beings ; " 44 its 
beneficial aspect on civil society ; " and 44 the influ- 
ence it will have on the general interests of religion." 
A rapid mention of historical facts follows this treat- 
ment of the subject ; and the sermon concludes with 
words of earnest exhortation, so expressive of the 
spirit by which he was always governed, that I am 
moved to quote a part of the final paragraph : — 

" And now let me close with beseeching you to prove 
the purity and sincerity of your joy by attending with 
reverence, with cheerfulness, with constancy, on the ser- 
vices and instruction for which this sanctuary is erected. 
Let no future neglect prove that this dedication is a solemn 



FEDERAL-STEEET MEETING-HOUSE. 



29 



mockery, — that you have reared the house for ostentation, 
not for God. Remember that the great glory of a house 
of worship consists in the character of its worshippers ; in 
the decent order, the seriousness, the fervor, the devout, 
attention. Without these, vain are the pomp and splendor 
and beauty. Think not that I would speak slightly of the 
desire you have expressed to adorn the temple. No : let 
God be praised by all his works ! Let genius and taste 
conspire to rear the splendid temple ! Let the arched roof 
resound with his praise ! Let religion be associated with 
every thing beautiful and magnificent in nature and art ! 
But remember that to God, who is a pure spirit, these have 
no value but as they express and improve our hearts. The 
heart he delights in, — that temple where his creatures 
approach him with veneration and love. No ornament is, 
in his sight, of such price as a meek, devout, grateful spirit. 
We may, by outward splendor, draw the admiration of the 
worldly, we cannot bring God near. We cannot draw from 
heaven the spirit of grace and joy. I affect not to despise 
wealth or a simple grandeur in the style of worship ; but 
this I can say from the depth of my heart, that it is my 
first desire to minister to a people who revere the word 
and institutions of God, and shall exhibit in their lives the 
power of Christianity. With such, whatever be their 
state, I should be happy. God grant that such a people 
may throng these courts ; that the most striking object in 
this house may ever be the composed and solemn devo- 
tion of its worshippers ! " 

With such impressive words was this structure set 
apart to holy uses. On that day it wore " its first 
glory." It requires but a slight effort of the imagina- 
tion to bring before us that delicate form and saintly 
brow, with the calmly impassioned manner (if the 



30 



MEMORIAL OF THE 



verbal contradiction may be allowed), and the voice — 
of such wonderful quality — whose tones had the 
pathos of persuasion and the authority of inspiration ; 
or to place ourselves in sympathy with the audience, 
as he on whom their eyes were fastened poured out 
his strong desire, — 44 May this church yet see many 
bright days ! May the joyful anticipations of this 
moment be fulfilled ! May you bring into this house 
that brotherly love, harmony, and peace, by which you 
were distinguished in your former sanctuary ! Here 
may sincere prayer, thanks, and praises, warm from 
the heart, ascend as fragrant incense to the throne 
of God ! Here may the divine word be dispensed in 
simplicity and uncorrupted purity, — with the ardor 
of conviction and the persuasiveness of affection ! " 
Some of you, my friends, may have listened to these 
breathing sentences. Then are there some 44 left that 
saw this house in its first glory." 

The building retains its original appearance. To 
the eye of a critical taste it may exhibit blemishes ; 
but no great confidence is needed to sustain us in 
affirming that its beauties outnumber its faults. At 
the time of its erection, it was accounted one of the 
ornamental structures of the town. In a public 
journal of that day appeared some 44 Lines on viewing 
the new Meeting-house in Federal Street," as their 
title runs ; not remarkable for poetical merit, but 
evidently written by one who had been brought to a 
consciousness of spiritual life by the instruction of 



FEDERAL-STREET MEETING-HOUSE. 



31 



the future preacher within its walls. If their com- 
mencement betrays some extravagance of admiration, 
is it not pardonable ; and may not a similar extrava- 
gance be pardoned in those of us, whose associations 
invest the material edifice with a sacred beauty] — 

" Crowned with new grace, with towering height sublime, 
Like a fair phoenix rising in its prime, — 
'Mid circling domes in humbler grandeur spread, 
This sacred temple rears its matchless head ; 
Whose spire majestic, piercing through the air, 
Lifts its proud point to heaven, and glitters there." 

Dr. Channing's ministry continued to produce the 
best results. The congregation increased, its mem- 
bers became sincerely and actively religious, and the 
community began to feel the effect of such living 
instruction. A new style of preaching had been 
introduced by the ministers of the " Liberal " pulpits, 
as it was becoming common to style them. Among 
these preachers, Buckminster and Channing were pre- 
eminent ; men of different mental structure, but each 
of them of the finest mould. Buckminster's death 
was a severe blow to the interests alike of pulpit 
eloquence and of biblical criticism. Had he lived, Dr. 
Channing would never, I think, have been drawn into 
theological controversy. Foreign as it was from his 
habits and his tastes, he would have left its weapons 
to be handled by one who was more familiar with 
their temper. When, however, he saw the truths 
which he valued, and the friends whom he loved, 
made the subjects of calumnious misrepresentation, 



32 



MEMORIAL OP THE 



he took up his pen in their defence. The Unitarian 
controversy counted him as one of its earliest cham- 
pions. As fearless as he was gentle, as honest as 
he was candid, he persevered in the exposition of 
scriptural doctrine, till no one could plead other 
than wilful ignorance of his opinions on the great 
questions then in debate. His sermon at Baltimore, 
to which I have already alluded, drew the line of 
distinction between the believers and the disbelievers 
in the popular theology with a sharpness and an 
ability that were decisive. From that moment, the 
two parties were arrayed in hostile positions. To 
Dr. Channing it was an occasion of anxiety, but not 
of embarrassment. He had discharged his duty, and 
awaited the issue. He used no other method of retain- 
ing an influence over his society than the plain and 
forcible vindication of his belief. The society stood 
by him. A few valued members left the church : 
their places were soon filled by new worshippers. And 
now began the third period of our parochial history. 
Not, as in the former case, by a direct vote, but by a 
gradual transition, the people had passed over to what 
was now known as Unitarianism. Dr. Channing neither 
coveted nor dreaded a sectarian name. If the interests 
of truth required him to take it, he did not refuse : 
when those interests could be promoted without it, he 
was glad to drop the technical terms of denominational 
difference. He was never a Trinitarian : he lived and 
died in the faith, of which the absolute unity of the 



FEDERAL-STREET MEETING-HOUSE. 



33 



Father and the subordination of Christ are essential 
articles. But after he withdrew from dogmatic strife, 
and his attention was turned to the questions of a 
practical philanthropy which were acquiring impor- 
tance, he felt little inclination to be dragged again 
into a service in which nothing but a sense of duty 
had ever made him take a part. With his full con- 
currence, and not without occasional encouragement 
from his voice and pen, his congregation remained 
avowedly Unitarian. 

Dr. Channing's exertions in behalf of either doc- 
trinal or practical Christianity, beyond the circle of his 
ministerial duties, did not render him inattentive to 
whatever means might be devised for the benefit of 
his own congregation. Preaching and pastoral visits 
were the chief agencies on which he relied ; but 
other methods were tried, or were suggested by his 
wakeful mind. Meetings for religious discussion and 
the increase of Christian sympathy, an improved style 
and a more general support of church music, a 
Sunday school, and a parish library, were, at different 
periods, subjects of his recommendation. The parson- 
age, which was for some years a quiet and pleasant 
residence, had been erected a short time before the 
present meeting-house. Another building, he saw, 
was needed for social religious uses; and, in 1818, 
the vestry was erected. For many years, this build- 
ing was in constant use, fulfilling its design. Here, 
winter after winter, and through the successive sea- 

5 



34 



MEMORIAL OF THE 



sons, have we held our weekly meetings for prayer 
and familiar exposition of the Bible. Informal in 
their character, but not less sacred in their influence 
than the more carefully conducted services of the 
Lord's Day, these meetings are among my pleasantest 
remembrances of the past. "When we were forced to 
quit the apartment in which so many holy hours had 
been spent, it was not without sorrow that we saw it 
given over to neglect and its unwholesome concomi- 
tants. With proportionate pleasure have we seen it 
redeemed from disuse, and turned into an instrument 
of one of the most beneficent agencies that ever 
originated in an impulse of Christian faith, or in the 
quick perception of a woman's heart. It will not be 
the least agreeable of the recollections which we shall 
bear away from this spot, that the last use made of our 
vestry has connected it with a charity as efficient as it 
is attractive, and as broad as it is genuine. 

His increasing professional engagements, with the 
continual interruption to which he was subject, after 
his name as a preacher and writer had become known, 
not only throughout our land, but in another hemi- 
sphere, were more than a physical system so delicate 
as Dr. Channing's could bear without injury. His 
health was so much impaired, that, in 1822, the 
society proposed to him to leave home for a year. He 
went abroad; but on his return, finding the restora- 
tion of his strength to be but partial, he addressed a 
letter to the Proprietors, in which he asked for aid in 



FEDERAL-STREET MEETING-HOUSE. 



35 



conducting the services of the Lord's Day. In their 
reply, they suggested the settlement of a colleague ; 
to which he immediately gave his cordial assent. In 
November, 1823, I was asked by Dr. Channing to 
preach in his pulpit. The acquaintance then began, 
which, through the invitation afterwards extended to 
me to share the ministry with him, grew into a per- 
manent and close connection. I was ordained on the 
30th of June, 1824; and for eighteen years enjoyed, 
in my relation to him, a tenderness of consideration 
and a steadfast kindness, of which I can never speak 
in terms of sufficient gratitude. Gradually he with- 
drew himself from an active share in the work, of 
which it was proper that the younger and the stronger 
in body should take the greater part. One winter he 
passed in the West Indies. His time was given more 
and more to the study of those great subjects, on 
which he wished to prepare such an expression of his 
views as should bear conclusive marks of sound and 
generous thought. The world was beginning to look 
to him as one of the authorized expounders of truth. 
His reverence for God, his faith in the divine mission 
and perfect character of Christ, his loyalty to the 
principle of freedom in its various relations, and his 
belief in the intrinsic worth of the nature with which 
man is endowed, conspired to make him a fit inter- 
preter of the immutable and universal wisdom. His 
own hope was shaping itself into a definite outline, 
the expectation of others was approaching its highest 



36 



MEMORIAL OF THE 



point, when the mysterious Providence, that is at 
once a light to our steps and a cloud on our hearts, 
removed him to the world to which God's servants are 
often taken when they seem to be most needed on 
earth. Christendom lost one of its noblest sons ; 
humanity, one of its most heroic and most serene 
defenders ; a liberal faith, one of its ablest vindicators 
and worthiest examples ; and we, my hearers, a teacher 
and friend, whose place can never be supplied on this 
side of the grave. We celebrated his obsequies; we 
built his monument : but the testimony of a grateful 
and reverential love is hidden in those secret places 
of personal consciousness which only the all-searching 
Eye can penetrate. 

The house which we shall soon leave, never to 
return to it, is intimately associated with the name 
and ministry of Channing. For him it was reared ; 
by his prayers has it been hallowed ; his instructions 
have cast on its walls the shadow of a divine glory. 
Here have we listened till our hearts have burned 
within us, and our eyes have filled with tears. Here 
have we felt the burthen of sin lifted off, while our 
souls have sunk in penitence beneath his words. 
Here have we learned from him to say, " Thy will be 
done." Here have we caught some glimpses of the 
heaven from which the clouds seemed to flee away at 
his bidding. And here, through his encouragement, 
have we gathered strength to meet life's warfare, and 
overcome the world by living in it as Christian men 



FEDERAL-STREET MEETING-HOUSE. 



37 



and women. Ye who have come hither but of late 
years, you cannot know the conflict of emotions by 
which the hearts of many of your fellow-worshippers 
are rent. We are leaving the home of our spiritual 
life, where some of us first tasted the divine satisfac- 
tions which the Father gives to them who seek him. 
No other place can be to us what this has been ; no 
other can recall the images which this summons from 
the unforgotten past. It is not a capricious will, but 
an inevitable necessity, that moves us to take up the 
ark of our faith, and bear it hence. God give it a 
safe and sure resting-place ! 

It is not needful nor proper that I should detain 
you, my friends, with any review of the last twenty 
years. The incidents that I could relate are not of 
sufficient importance to deserve mention at this time. 
I might speak, indeed, of the care which you have 
taken to preserve this edifice in good condition, as 
once and again you have made ample appropriations 
for external repairs or internal renovation ; of the 
expense which you cheerfully incurred, when, four- 
teen years ago, you placed in yonder gallery the organ 
which has since enlivened our devotion by its rich 
and swelling sounds ; or of the purpose you have 
shown to sustain the institution of public worship, 
with that judicious liberality which allows no want 
and creates no debt. I must speak, in a single 
sentence, of the obligation under which I have 
been laid by repeated acts of kindness, and of the 



38 



MEMORIAL OF THE 



pleasure with which, through the thirty-five years 
of a pastoral connection that has never been overcast 
by any ungenerous treatment of yours, I have contem- 
plated the harmony which has existed among the 
members of the congregation, — a harmony the more 
remarkable, in view of the various elements that are 
combined in our society, and the different inducements 
by which we have been drawn into a concurrent use 
of Christian privileges. It has been to me a source 
of satisfaction beyond my hope, that, year after year, 
we have kept our unity with so little loss of strength, 
except as death has taken from these seats, not the 
aged alone, but the vigorous and the young. Still I 
have seen, at no very distant day in the future, the fate 
which must come upon a society whose house of wor- 
ship is remote, not only from the dwellings of those 
who had once enjoyed in its location the convenience 
of neighborhood, but from every class of the popula- 
tion which might be expected to furnish the means 
of replenishing the waste of time. And therefore 
I have not withheld the expression of a hope, that 
we might, before it was too late, provide for the 
removal which, in my judgment, could alone save us 
from final disappearance as a religious organization. 
That fate, I trust, is now averted. 

We who have frequented the courts of this sanc- 
tuary are not the only persons interested in the change 
which we shall soon witness. For our " brethren and 
companions' sake," as well as on our own behalf, have 



FEDERAL-STREET MEETING-HOUSE. 



39 



we been accustomed to say, " Peace be within these 
walls." For here have they come up with us, at the 
seasons of our solemn rejoicing, to hold their feasts 
of brotherly love. This house is hallowed by far- 
spreading memories, that take in the absent, the dis- 
tant, the departed. On the floor of yonder vestry 
did the ministers of our faith assemble, in annual 
Conference, to compare the lessons of their expe- 
rience, and to mature plans of wider usefulness. In 
these seats have rested the multitudes who came 
hither from the villages of the interior, the cities of 
the South, the rivers of the West, to exchange the 
greetings of a common hope. Nor is the interest 
felt in this building confined to our own land, vast as 
is the territory to which we give that appellation. 
In England, in France, in Germany, in Hindostan, in 
the isles of the sea, what we have done will be a 
subject of remark. The name of Channing has car- 
ried the associations of this spot to the ends of the 
earth. Eyes are watching us from the other side of 
the globe. I do not say this because you are insensible 
to the obligations which such a trust as we have in 
our hands imposes, but because we admit the force of 
these obligations, and would be faithful to their mean- 
ing. In a just interpretation, they require us to per- 
petuate the institutions which were built up by the 
labors of Channing and his predecessors. These 
institutions — more precious than the material struc- 
ture, which is but a means of their growth and a 



40 MEMORIAL OF FEDERAL-STREET MEETING-HOUSE. 

symbol of their efficacy — must not perish ; and 
therefore will we remove them beyond the reach of 
sudden disaster or slow decay. 

With reverent hands, then, we take up the taber- 
nacle of the Lord, and bear it to the place where it 
may abide in peace. Our sadness, as we look back, 
shall be tempered with the influence of the promise 
that lies before us. It is not a work of destruction 
which we meditate : that is but incidental. Preserva- 
tion is the end we seek. The past shall not be for- 
gotten, nor the present be clouded with apprehen- 
sion. Grateful for what we have enjoyed, and for 
what we possess, we need not linger here to keep 
remembrance green. With a glad hope we lift our 
tabernacle, and bear it hence. Memories of other 
days ! go with us to anoint our enterprise. Sympa- 
thies of the departed ! go with us to cheer and 
strengthen our hearts. Influences of faith and love ! 
go with us to give success to our undertaking. Spirit 
of union ! go with us to keep the harmonies of our 
history unbroken. Cross of the Redeemer ! go with 
us to lead and crown our toil. Father of an infinite 
grace ! go with us to bless our purpose and fulfil our 
hope. 



ADDRESSES 

DELIVERED IN THE FEDERAL- STREET MEETING-HOUSE, 

ON 

Sunday, March 13, 1859. 



6 



ADDRESSES. 



EEMAEKS BY REV. SAMUEL B. CRUFT. 

I haye been asked to speak a word of personal interest 
and sympathy, as one brought up among you; who has 
never gone very far from you, — the cord binding me to 
this altar hardly permitting that; as one who first re- 
ceived here the bread from heaven, that he might go and 
distribute of the same, as well as he might, poorly at best, 
to those hungering in the wilderness of life. But how hard 
to utter that word ! There are times when the emotions 
of the heart are too deep for utterance ; when we could not 
speak, even if we would. Others must speak for us ; yet 
not even they can do full justice to the swelling thought. 
The scene, the occasion, must speak for itself. And better 
that that should speak, and we sit all in reverential silence 
to listen to its solemn word ; and, while we thus muse, let 
the fire burn, — the fire of grateful faith, of seraphic devo- 
tion. 

Is not the present such a scene, such an occasion? 
Verily it is. None certainly can feel it so more than 
myself. To none can this be a more hallowed spot. It 
is holy ground to me ; for it hath been the gate of heaven 
to my soul. It is here my friends and kindred dwell, — 
friends and kindred in the Lord, the ascended and the 
crowned, and they who wait, with their mantle thrown 
about them waiting for their God. 



44 



MEMORIAL OF THE 



From my childhood up, I have known no other sanctu- 
ary-home than this. I have gone out, indeed, as children 
grown up to man's estate must expect to go out, from the 
old native homestead, and have essayed to make a new 
home for myself. But, alas ! how very poor it is, compared 
with the old mother-home, which so tenderly has cherished 
and faithfully has taught me, and kept me so warm with new 
spiritual life ! It was at the hands of our ascended father 
that I received the water of baptism. It was here, at the 
table of the consecrated cup and bread, that I received from 
the same hand the warm grasp of Christian fellowship, when 
I joined myself in holy covenant to the Lord and to his ser- 
vice for ever. And, oh, those hallowed seasons ! Who that 
has shared in them can ever forget the holy fragrance of 
devotion that came wafted in from the windows of heaven 
opened there and then so wide, — so very wide ? It was 
here, among the lambs of the flock, I was long enrolled and 
tenderly watched, receiving Christian counsel from honored 
lips' of those whose lives and labors have been for the 
healing of the bruised reed, for the upbuilding of " God's 
throne," for humanity in either hemisphere, — from lips 
long sealed in death, but unloosed above in louder praises 
and more faithful service in the more immediate presence 
of the Great Teacher. 

And then came to me in turn the same blessed privilege, 
— freely having received, freely to give of my labors and 
prayers in building up the kingdom of the Good Shepherd 
here, in leading the youthful disciple beside the still wa- 
ters of salvation into his peaceful fold. It was here, in 
ministering and in being ministered unto, that my faith 
in God and my brother man was quickened. A new con- 
sciousness I received of the value of all souls, of the 
equality and dignity of our common nature before the one 
Father. My sympathies became more actively engaged in 
behalf of the suffering 'and outcast. The poor, I learned 



FEDERAL-STREET MEETING-HOUSE. 



45 



more to honor and respect by the fervid appeals made at 
this altar, and so nobly seconded, as by other faithful among 
the living and departed, so especially by one whose image 
ever rises up before me here, stamped with the divinity of 
faith and hope and love, as he worshipped with us in his 
latter days ; that true apostle, that unwearied benefactor 
of his kind, — all the titles of earth blended into one, 
father and founder of the Ministry at Large. 

Tuckerman and Channing — how tenderly, sacredly, 
beautifully, do their memories intertwine in the asso- 
ciations of this hour ! Ever, for ever, be that union of 
those glorified twin-spirits clear to our hearts of this 
Christian society ; inspiring us all to toil unweariedly on, 
with an invincible faith for the redemption of our brother 
man from all wrong, all suffering, all oppression ; from 
every weight that most easily besets humanity ! 

I might thus go on, gleaning from the records of per- 
sonal and spiritual experience ; for this, I feel, should be an 
experience meeting. And would that others from among 
the laity might speak, who could draw so much deeper 
and better from their own hearts' fountains ! But better, 
you may say again with me, not to speak now, but rather 
meditate and feel, be lifted up, warmed, penetrated, by the 
breathings of the Holy Spirit. Yea, hearken unto what 
the Spirit saith now to this church; hearken unto the 
hour, and not unto the man. And verily what voices we 
hear ! what a tide of unspeakable emotions rushes over 
us ! What inspiring, heaven-lifting associations gather 
around ! How vocal are these walls ! 

" Echoes, and more than echoes, seem to talk." 

What scenes, what experiences, have they looked down 
upon ! What secret decisions, what recorded vows, what 
sealed verdicts, sent up to be opened in the court of 
heaven ! 



46 



MEMORIAL OF THE 



The historian Plutarch tells us somewhere of an ancient 
city, where the words were congealed when spoken, but 
after a time thawed and became audible. Is not this 
such a place? Do not the words, — all that have ever 
been spoken within these walls, — so brave and wise and 
holy, all thaw out in an hour like this, and speak with 
an emphasis that is not of earth ? Yerily, what a mighty 
congregation is gathered with us now, all waiting to speak 
in turn their valedictory ! — those who have gone up so 
many more than those who yet remain ! 

" The saints below and those above 
But one communion make." 

They are with us now, the ascended and the glori- 
fied. They crowd these aisles, they occupy again these 
seats. They press to speak their own last word, making 
" sweet music on the air." And what is that word ? 

"Be thankful," would they not say? — thankful for the 
past, for the wise counsels, the faithful instructions, the 
fervent devotions, the hallowed sympathies, the new 
glimpses of the better life, the brighter visions of the 
Lord, that have here been enjoyed. 

"Be penitent/ 7 would they not say? — penitent for the 
misuse of these golden opportunities, these abused trusts, 
these neglected talents, these unredeemed hours, these 
professions failing in the practice, these vows unregistered 
in heaven, these prayers unembodied in the life, these 
hearts of stone that infinite Love and infinite Pity would 
make hearts of flesh, and the Bedeemer would take and 
seal as his own. 

" And be trustful, be hopeful for the future," would they 
not also say? Have no doubts or misgivings as to the 
time to come, but be joyful in the Lord, and await his 
higher pleasure. Follow only the leadings of his provi- 
dence. Take him with you as you bear away now the 



FEDERAL-STREET MEETING-HOUSE. 



47 



sacramental ark. Keep his word ever near, hid in the 
heart, for ever rising into fuller measures of light and 
purity and love. 

" Farewell ! " they would respond with us, to these hal- 
lowed places, so soon to know us no more for ever. But 
with this word they would have us mingle no sad associa- 
tions, no tearful regrets. It is a word never intended to 
be one of gloomy remembrance, but of joyful anticipation ; 
looking not so much back to the past as onward to the 
future; being not so much a recollection as a wish, — a 
bright, happy, hopeful wish. " Farewell ! " they would 
respond. " Be it ever well with you in the future ; be 
it well with you in your homes ; well with you in your 
hearts ; well with you in the tabernacle of your temporary 
sojourn; well with you in the new temple you may live 
to consecrate ; well with you, each and all, till you join us 
at length in our higher worship in this brighter world, 
where we need no temple ; for the Lord God Almighty 
and the Lamb are the temple of it." 



REMARKS BY REV. FREDERIC W. HOLLAND. 

I have been desired, by one whose wish is more to me 
than most men's command, to speak upon the memories of 
associated thought and action which cluster around this 
spot. 

The first time that I ever saw many clergymen together 
was in that room, at once a library and a parlor, and a ves- 
try besides, which on Anniversary Week welcomed the 
Berry-street Conference. The first discussion that I heard 
(I should not like to say how many years ago) was upon the 
means of making the Communion-service more effective. 



48 



MEMORIAL OF THE 



There were present, and engaged in the debate, many 
whom pur city churches look back to with reverence, and 
others whom the country societies hold in tenderest regard. 
Time would fail me to recall them all, — the fervent Low- 
ell ; the devout Ware ; the Whitmans, brothers in action ; 
the Peabodys, brothers in spirit ; the eloquent Pierpont ; 
the scriptural Parkman; the accomplished Greenwood; the 
venerable Bancroft ; the learned Francis ; the gifted Chan- 
ning. When, before, has such a body of divines been ga- 
thered, so earnest in spreading what they deemed truth, yet 
so tolerant of differing opinion ; so respectful to others' 
rights, yet so resolute in maintaining their own ; so pure 
in life, and so generous in spirit ; so general in their cul- 
ture, yet so devoted to their holy profession? What won- 
der that their earnest words impressed me permanently, 
even in my youth ; that they imparted an abiding sense of 
the dignity of their calling, of the majesty of truth, and the 
beauty of holiness? Blessed be the memory of that free 
} T et fraternal, that wise and prayerful brotherhood, which 
made this Ministerial Conference one of the most remark- 
able assemblages in church-history ! 

Another association connects that little hall with this 
hallowed shrine. To the catechism at my mother's knee 
succeeded the Sunday lessons upon Jewish literature, by 
one who has handled the literature of another Mediter- 
ranean land so admirably, in that modest vestry now the 
scene of a noble charity. It was an early stage in Sunday- 
school education ; and the questions, I remember, were 
written by the professor himself upon paper-slips. 

During our Holy Week, and year after year, the Christian 
friends of the } 7 oung gathered within these hallowed walls, 
with song and psalm, with prayer, report, and address, to 
promote that sister-institution, — handmaid and nursery 
of the church, — the daughter, and sometimes the mother, 
of Zion. Under the excellent guidance of Stephen C. 



FEDERAL-STREET MEETING-HOUSE. 



40 



Phillips, with one of our brethren, here present, as 
secretary, many delightful "Wednesday evenings were 
thus spent, — full of encouragement, promise, peace, and 
praise. Here, from time to time, counsel was given to 
those who were following Christ's command to " feed his 
lambs ; " impulse was given to fresh effort in behalf of the 
young, hope to those that were laboring without apparent 
fruit, and praise to any that had distinguished themselves 
in this " noblest charity of the age." 

Surely my tongue ought to " cleave to the roof of 
my mouth," if, a sailor's son, I should forget, that when 
one, whom we love to call Father Taylor, could find no 
means to erect a decent altar for "those that go down 
to the sea in ships," this house assembled the merchant 
princes of Boston to express their sympathy for a true 
apostle, in unexpected generosity as well as by stirring 
words of hearty approval. And the North-Square Church 
grew out of the feeling here kindled and fostered. Other 
similar efforts in behalf of this most neglected class were 
encouraged and aided here ; a lasting bond of fellowship 
was formed between this devoted laborer and brethren of 
a different name : nor is it too much to say, that every one, 
benefited at all by commerce, has cause to bless the Boston 
Port Society, and the timely, efficient, earnest espousal of 
its cause by this Christian congregation and its sympathiz- 
ing friends. 

The stone would " cry out of the wall, and the beam out 
of the timber answer it," should we not recall, at this 
parting hour, the protracted series of Unitarian Association 
meetings held here. Till very recent times, the business 
meeting of this our central organization was held in the 
adjoining vestry; and the public meeting, immediately 
afterwards, in this house. What names come out on 
these falling walls as we gaze ! — the fearless Bancroft, 
our first president; the gifted, eloquent, admired Story, 

7 



50 



MEMORIAL OF THE 



occupant of the same office ; another leader still, then a 
star in the east, now gone up to shine in the firmament 
that passeth not away ; and many, many others of the ex- 
cellent, wise, gifted, fervent, brave among us, bringing to 
this altar their richest gifts of thought and hope, sending 
forth hence quickening words throughout the land and 
across the sea, — just as beneath the mountain-side in the 
Land of Promise gushes out a little rill, which by and by 
sAvells into the sacred Jordan, rolling down its impetuous, 
refreshing waters far and wide. 

To learn that this was no sectarian movement, in no 
sectarian spirit, we need only recall the name of Tucker- 
man in his connection with this Association, through an 
institution which Story pronounced " one of the most 
glorious triumphs of Christianity over the reluctant doubts 
of society." Here his gentle hand was borne up to tear 
away the barriers of caste ; here his apostolic voice pro- 
claimed the brotherhood of the fallen; here he enlisted 
his devoted fellow-laborers in what he called " the remem- 
brance of the forgotten," — three of whom share in our 
exercises now. Here the spirit of the sainted Channing 
has ever insured to the " Ministry at Large " its most 
generous aid. 

As we remember those who have assisted in these va- 
rious efforts, well may we repeat the poet's words : — 

" The forms of the departed 
Enter at the open door; 
The beloved, the true-hearted, 
Come to visit us once more." 

A cloud of heavenly witnesses hover around us, while 
we run our race, " looking unto the Author and Finisher 
of our faith, who is set down at the right hand" of the 
Father to welcome every faithful laborer to share his joy 
and abide in his peace. 



FEDERAL-STREET MEETING-HOUSE. 



51 



REMARKS BY REV. AMOS SMITH. 



The occasion which has assembled us speaks for itself so 
articulately and impressively, that no man can covet — 
nay, every man must shrink from — the office of conduct- 
ing, even in part, these services. Words seem super- 
fluous and an intrusion. Could this hour be spent by us 
here in meditative silence, voices from the past and voices 
from heaven would become almost audible to the rapt 
soul; the forms of venerable men and of sainted women — 
once worshippers in these courts, but now dwellers in the 
celestial city which needs no temple — would pass, in long 
procession, before the imagination ; light as from on high 
would bring into clear vision the holy lessons and the hal- 
lowed recollections which we have come to lay to heart ; 
all that is best within us would experience a divine up- 
lifting; and, like the apostle on the Mount of Transfigura- 
tion, we should exclaim, " It is good to be here." But 
silence, how much soever more golden it may be than 
speech, custom permits not now ; and, at the invitation 
of one whose expressed wish is in our esteem more au- 
thoritative than almost any other man's command, we, the 
clerical sons of this church, — sons, not by adoption, but 
Romans all by birth, — have come to speak the words, 
that would have been so much better spoken by himself, 
which may befit this hour of valediction. 

With mingled emotions, Brethren of this Christian so- 
ciety, you have gathered here. It is not quite a festival 
of Thanksgiving that has this afternoon summoned from 
far and near the sons and daughters of this ecclesiastical 
household ; nor yet, most certainly, is it a Fast. If this 
were the last season of worship in this house because your 
numbers had declined, and }^our ranks were almost dis- 



52 



MEMORIAL OF THE 



banded, and the fire burned low on your altar, and debt 
and mortgage had swallowed up all; if these were the 
obsequies of a dead church, — then would this be indeed a 
day of fasting, not only to you and to multitudes beside in 
this city, but to thousands also in every part of our land, 
and to thousands beyond the sea. But very different, pre- 
cisely the reverse, is your condition. You are but, as it 
were, pluming your wings to fly from glory to glory. 
With a history all honorable and illustrious, in the full 
enjoyment of all the elements which constitute a church's 
success and strength, and with a future as bright before 
you as the heart of man would dare to ask from Heaven, 
you are brought to this day, which only the advancing 
tide of commerce in our city has made for you a day of 
dispossession. The experiment which has so disastrously 
tried many a religious society — that, namely, of quitting 
an old and beloved place of worship for a new one — is to 
bring no harm to you, but, in many ways, a gain. And 
when, ere-long, that fairer temple shall open its completed 
portals for your admission, you will march to its possession, 
not a company thinned by dissensions or divided into par- 
ties, but with full ranks, in solid column, animated with one 
mind and one heart, — a true and living church of Christ, 
the Prince of Peace. No : this is not a Fast-day. 

Yet there is so much of sadness in it, that it is not a 
season of Thanksgiving. It is not a day we are glad to see. 
Who is there of us that feels not a shadow resting on his 
spirit, in the thought that these are the last religious ser- 
vices on this spot, where for a hundred and thirty years 
has stood a house of prayer? Four generations of wor- 
shippers, offering here their praise and making their hum- 
ble supplication to the Most High, have rendered this 
hallowed ground. There are cathedrals in the Old World, 
which, when one of the neighboring inhabitants enters 
them, excite in him the reverent and holy thought, 



FEDERAL-STEEET MEETING-HOUSE. 



53 



' Within these walls have many generations of my ances- 
tors worshipped ; upon these very stones they knelt ; under 
these very arches and domes their aspirations were breathed 
out to God : and hither now have I, in my turn, come, to 
form my character also, to drink of the same fountain of 
spiritual life, and to nerve my soul to brave and lofty deeds 
like theirs. Here God answered their prayers and grant- 
ed his grace : may I not hope, shall I not entreat him, that 
here he will visit me also with his strength and peace ? ' 
Would that similar sentiments could have been allowed 
time to reach their maturity in reference to this spot, 
whose sacred use dates back so far ! Most grateful to the 
religious sensibilities would it be, if, for ages to come, it 
could still be graced and glorified with a Christian temple, 
remaining, amid surrounding changes and all the devasta- 
tions of time, holy ground, century after century. But it 
cannot be. Its light as a place of prayer is to be extin- 
guished this day ; whatever claim it can advance to anti- 
quity of sacred use, is to cease with the last Amen of 
these services ; and after a few years, only an individual 
here and there, of the mighty throngs who shall traverse 
these thoroughfares, will know — or, knowing, will be at 
pains to remind himself — that a temple of the Lord ever 
stood here. 

Ah ! is it so ? Is this spot so easily to sink into oblivion, 
and all its well-earned fame and hallowed associations to 
fade from the memory of man ? Call the roll of those who 
worshipped and of those who ministered in the churches 
which preceded this on this spot, and you will see that it 
cannot be. Call then the roll of those who have wor- 
shipped in this sanctuary within the half-century it has 
stood here, — a list more illustrious than which, on the 
score of public spirit and of social influence, or more ho- 
nored in the realm of letters, of jurisprudence, of humanity, 
of religion, shall hardly be produced by any church in the 



54 



MEMORIAL OF THE 



land ; then pronounce the names of those whose two minis- 
tries have filled out here those fifty years, — and you will 
have a demonstration, as it seems to me, that this plat of 
ground on which we are assembled — a mere finger's 
breadth, though it is, of the area of this metropolis — is 
yet large enough to be seen wherever the city is seen; 
and that, obscure as it is in these narrow streets, it has yet 
illumined the whole earth. Brethren, in the deeds by 
which you have alienated this estate, you have not con- 
veyed what is really the most valuable part of it, — 
namely, the holy associations that cluster around it, the 
glorious memories that belong to it, the immortality of 
renown that has been ineffaceably stamped upon it. I 
care not that massive warehouses are soon to cover this 
tract of land, and the din of traffic to take the place of the 
hushed stillness of the house of God ; I care not, if, in 
the mighty revolutions which the future infolds, this spot 
and all around it shall become again ploughed fields : 
this ground is still sacred for all time; the interest that 
belongs to it cannot wholly perish from human hearts. It 
has become indissolubly connected with the history of 
freedom, the history of Christianity, the history of the 
world's progression in this century. 

Of the living I may not speak, how much soever I may 
desire to do so. Among the departed, there is one, whose 
name, for ever associated as it is with this, the scene of 
his public ministrations, warrants and sustains all I have 
asserted. I have but to utter the name of Channing, and 
the convictions of all your hearts respond, that, come what 
may of outward change here, a genius and spirit, a light 
and a glory, pervade this place, which, so long as the an- 
nals of this age shall endure, shall year by year attract 
hither many souls kindred to his, to excite into new life, 
as at a shrine, their zeal and love, their faith in man and 
Christ and God. We have recently seen how green were 



FEDERAL-STREET MEETING-HOUSE. 



55 



the laurels of Burns at the close of a century : it is easy to 
believe, that not less fresh and living will the memory of 
Channing be at the end of a thousand years. 

Channing ! — that is a name which to-day is upon many 
lips ; and you all confess, that one of the great sorrows 
which oppress you, in giving up this temple to be demol- 
ished, arises from its being so associated in your minds 
with him and his ministrations. It seems a desecration — 
and, but for imperative necessity, it would be such — to 
permit these walls, that have echoed with his voice, to be 
overthrown, and this pulpit, which was his joy and throne, 
to be removed out of its place. As to his ministry here, 
no words can swell the fame of its surpassing brilliancy 
and success. I know not what petitions were embraced in 
the ordaining prayer that consecrated him to the service 
of Christ ; but, if his career is any indication, no blessing 
was left unasked for. What multitudes of souls have, in 
this sanctuary, been carried up near to the throne of God 
by the sweetness and wisdom, the elevation and spirituali- 
ty, of his discourse, and by the inspiration of his devotion ! 
How many sorrowing ones have his consolations soothed, 
how many tempted ones have his counsels strengthened, 
and to how many doubting and perplexed minds has he 
imparted the priceless satisfactions of a clear, consistent, 
cheering faith ! Who, that waited for his words here sab- 
bath by sabbath, did not feel all that was unworthy within 
them subdued, all that was good confirmed and quickened, 
and their souls fed with manna from heaven ? And it is 
just this wherein is found the true history of this church. 
That history is not to be discovered in any volumes of 
local records, so much as it is to be read upon the fleshly 
tablets of hearts thus redeemed from sorrow and doubt, 
from weakness and transgression, and brought home to 
Christ. And though it was not for this place that those 
productions of his pen were prepared which have secured 



56 



MEMORIAL OF THE 



to him his chief celebrity, still, in the universal regard, 
and justly, has this pulpit come to shine like the sun 
through his brave words — words heard round the world, 
and now a permanent part of its literature — in behalf 
of freedom, of temperance, of education, of self-culture, of 
the elevation of the laboring classes, of peace, of the 
Union ; but, most of all, in behalf of that which underlies 
all, — a rational, a liberal, a progressive, a biblical the- 
ology. Blessed be God, that, though he created that 
physical frame so feeble, he enclosed in it so divine 
and unflinching a spirit, and enabled that loyal disciple 
of Christ to render such signal service to the churches 
of America bound in the affliction and iron of a gloomy 
theology ! To the churches of America, do I say ? Nay, 
to the Church universal, — to the cause of truth, of free 
inquiry, of piety, of a living Christianity, in all lands. 
Believing as I do, with every conviction of my mind 
and with every affection of my heart, that the system 
of theological doctrines which he promulgated and de- 
fended is consonant alike with Scripture and with rea- 
son ; convinced, too, that it is steadily winning its 
way even where it seems to be most steadily resisted, — 
I rejoice — and, as I stand here especially, I cannot but 
express my joy — at the service which he has therein 
rendered ; a service so distinguished for its achieved 
results, and so vast in its prospective influences. 

Who that remembers that champion of truth and servant 
of God, who that recounts these manifold and precious 
and far-reaching benefits, and then looks at this temple and 
this pulpit, which stand — how impressive and pathetic 
memorials of him and of his deeds ! — can help feeling 
grief that destroying hands are so soon to be at work 
here ; that all this sacred fabric — the like of which, in 
our esteem, the whole earth presents not — is to be, ere- 
long, a heap of ruins ; and that the Gospel trumpet, which, 



FEDERAL-STREET MEETING-HOUSE. 



57 



these many years, has been heard so awakeningly from this 
Zion, and never once has given an uncertain sound, is to 
be mute here henceforward? 

But let us give thanks, that amid the fluctuations and 
changes of which the earth is full, yea, and even amid 
all the desolations of time and all the triumphs of death, 
the grace and truth which came by Jesus Christ fail not, 
nor know the shadow of a change. Like the eternal I AM, 
they still abide, — the same yesterday, to-day, and for- 
ever. 



REMARKS BY REV. ROBERT P. ROGERS. 

After all that has been said, and so admirably said, to-day, 
no one can be better aware than myself how little remains 
for me to speak of from this sacred desk. I have been in- 
vited, as the representative of two households once belong- 
ing to this church, to be present this afternoon, with 
others of my brethren similarly connected here, to offer 
one word of parting to this hallowed spot; a spot to 
which none of us can return for this last time, without a 
strange conflict of feelings in our breasts. Let me address 
you, therefore, for these few moments, as fellow-worship- 
pers, as inmates together, in spirit and in truth, of this 
house of God for these many years. 

But why do J speak of many years? I am the youngest 
of those whose privilege it is to address you to-day. And 
yet, I must confess, this is an occasion to make me feel no 
longer very young. The memories that fill this hour, and 
what I see before me, ought to be enough, I think, to dis- 
abuse me somewhat of the idea of youth. How much has 
happened, how much has passed, since, as a little child, I 

8 



58 



MEMORIAL OF THE 



was brought here first by my parents ! And, when I look 
around in quest of familiar faces, there are not so many as 
I could wish whom I remember ; few ; I fear, who remem- 
ber me. All this tells me of years gone by, the contempla- 
tion of whose changes and cares must convince any one 
most solemnly that he has left behind him the morning 
dreams, and entered upon the profounder responsibilities, of 
life. To my elders, however, it falls for the most part, to- 
day, to gather up and give voice to the precious memorials 
and admonitions of the past. 

Yet it will be allowed me, out of filial respect and with 
a natural sense of honor for many family ties, to refer to 
those who have been nearest and dearest to me under this 
roof, and whose spiritual presence is upon this very air. 
Some of you may anticipate the most interesting of my 
recollections. My uncle's voice, that was lifted here to 
remind you of heaven, seems to be falling again upon 
my ear. I remember well, how, as a child, too young to 
understand much that he said in preaching, his look and 
tone, when reading one of his favorite hymns, impressed 
me with a sort of wonder and delight. I look down into 
the pew where I used to sit and listen, by my father's or 
mother's side. They are not there : and I am left, hardly 
to speak of them now, — only to remember. 

Other ties there were which have bound me to this sanc- 
tuary. How many friends were seated up and down these 
aisles ! The young have grown up out of my knowledge ; 
the old have passed away. But one remains. He who 
has occupied this pulpit for thirty-five years ; my mini- 
ster and yours, our honored and beloved friend. To 
him I have always felt that I could turn for sympathy and 
counsel ; and never have I turned to him in vain. Under 
his preaching I grew up. He ordained me for the Chris- 
tian ministry. And I am grateful that he has permitted 
me to stand here once more, where I cannot but remember 



FEDERAL-STREET MEETING-HOUSE. 



59 



all that he has been to myself and to those I love ; and, for 
all this, I thank him from my heart. 

But I must not indulge longer in these personal remarks. 
Turning from my own experiences, there is one fact, my 
friends, prominently before us this afternoon, to which I 
may just allude ; and that is, that the influences of reli- 
gious truth, as presented here, have done so much for the 
enlightenment and relief of the poorest, the most igno- 
rant and wretched, of the race. What could be better 
proof of a successful ministry, if any such proof were 
needed now, than is before you in the persons of my 
respected brethren? Out of the nine or ten who have 
graduated from this church to be preachers of the word of 
life, three, with all the freshness and enthusiasm of youth, 
devoted themselves to carrying that triumphant gospel to 
the poor. To this extent, at least, and probably more than 
any of us can tell, has the Ministry at Large — one of the 
most beneficent institutions of the age — been indebted, 
under the blessing of God, to the incitements and encou- 
ragements received from this pulpit. 

But it is the last time that the voice of worship will be 
heard within these walls. " It is the last time," — sad and 
appropriate words with which my brother began his selec- 
tions from Scripture. Let us not, however, yield ourselves 
entirely to impressions of sorrow. You will go forth to 
another place of worship, carrying with you the associa- 
tions that cover these walls as if with tablets, memories of 
the just made perfect, blessings of instruction and of com- 
fort, that have visited you in this holy retreat in all times 
of need. You will go forth from this temple, bearing these 
treasures of a Christian faith with you, to another temple 
not less holy, where you may set up your altar and renew 
your vows. Go forth, then, with hope ; and may that new 
sanctuary be as beautiful and complete and enduring in 
reality as it is in promise ! And may it be to you, ay, to 



60 



MEMORIAL OF THE 



all of us who have ever worshipped together here, and 
to multitudes unknown, and to generations yet unborn, — 
may it be as a gate to — 

" That other temple in the skies, 
Where dwells eternal love " ! 



REMARKS OF REV. ROBERT C. WATERSTON. 

[The remarks of Mr. Waterston, having been given without notes, can but 
imperfectly be recalled.] 

Alluding, first, to the solemnity of the thought, that 
never again would a congregation assemble in this sacred 
place ; that, in a few moments, the last hymn would be 
sung and the last prayer be offered within these walls, — 
he spoke of the hallowed associations which sanctified 
the spot, the memories of the past, the aspirations which 
had here been awakened, and the heavenly affections 
here kindled. To many, there was no place on earth 
so sacred. Here they had gained strength for the con- 
flicts of life, and, in sorrow and bereavement, found 
Christian consolation ! Here they had first become con- 
scious of the sublime realities of the spiritual world ; 
fresh light had broken upon them from the glorious gospel ; 
and the will of God, as displayed alike through his word 
and his works, had been made clear. 

Feelings not only of solemnity, but of sadness, fill our 
minds at this hour. We have here known and loved 
many who are no longer upon earth. Thus, as we wor- 
ship here, we seem to be surrounded by a cloud of 
witnesses and, when we leave this sanctuary, — as we 
shall soon do for ever, — another link will be severed, 
uniting us to much long dear to our hearts. 



FEDERAL-STREET MEETING-HOUSE. 



61 



Mr. Waterston dwelt on the power of association, which 
gathers strength with time, and calls forth feelings of 
reverence and awe, as the thought of successive genera- 
tions presses upon the mind. It is this which clothes 
with indescribable interest many of the churches and 
cathedrals of the Old World. In this connection, he 
alluded to the feelings with which he had visited, in 
Glasgow, the scene of Chalmers's labors, — the church 
which had resounded with his eloquence, and the districts 
in which he had made such continuous philanthropic ef- 
forts in behalf of the poor; in Edinburgh, the ancient 
Church of St. Giles, where the rapt multitude had been 
swayed by the fervor of John Knox; at Bemerton, near 
Salisbury, where the little church yet stands, embowered 
amid foliage, in which the humble peasantry listened to 
the instructions of George Herbert; in Geneva, where 
Calvin uttered his stern and stringent doctrines ; and 
in lands yet further East, associated with the labors of 
the early Apostles. Often had he gone out from Naples 
to the hill overlooking that most beautiful bay, and traced 
in thought the progress of Paul, as the ship of Alexandria 
approached Italy, and the chief of the apostles landed 
at Puteoli, and thence proceeded to Rome. And even 
in the Eternal City, with all its throng of memories, 
there is nothing which can give to it such a hold upon 
the Christian mind as the thought that there Paul lived 
and labored. 

When we consider the power of association, it seems, 
indeed, a misfortune, that, in a country in many respects 
so new and of such limited historic interest, this sanctuary, 
which has become identified with one of the most gifted 
minds our age has produced, should be destroyed. Now 
that the event, long feared, has become an unavoidable 
necessity, a sense of the serious loss to be sustained forces 
itself painfully upon the mind. Another ancient land- 



62 MEMORIAL OF FEDERAL-STREET MEETING-HOUSE. 



mark is to be removed. A shrine to which the feet 
of pilgrims from many lands, through centuries to come, 
would have turned, is to be no more. The cherished 
Jerusalem of our faith must be levelled with the dust, 
and the scattered tribes of Israel, who have loved to come 
up hither, shall henceforth seek this spot in vain. 

But, amid this sense of loss, is there no sustaining 
hope? Yes. If there are pleasures and advantages in 
associations binding us with the past, there are dangers 
also. The external may overbalance the spiritual ; the 
local may come between us and the eternal. TTe see 
this tendency perpetually exemplified among all nations. 
Forms and ceremonies become predominant. The altar, 
and the gold upon it, are more considered than the spirit of 
devotion. Progress is rendered difficult, often impossible. 
Thus is truth retarded, and the best interests of humanity 
are crushed. This danger seems to have been foreseen 
by the great Founder of our religion. Not one mountain 
or temple was to be holier than another. Christianity 
is a religion, not of places, but of principles. It enjoins 
believers to forget the things which are behind, and to 
press forward. 

Specially true to this idea was the distinguished teacher 
whose name is immediately associated with this place. His 
affections were as expansive as the world. He could 
have endured nothing which might be made a barrier to 
retard human Progress. It may, therefore, even be con- 
sidered providential, that this house, connected with his 
memory, is to be wholly swept away, that we may concen- 
trate our thoughts more entirely upon the truth he loved 
and the spirit he cherished : that, inspired by a kindred 
devotion, we may earnestly pursue our onward course, 
carrying out to yet nearer completion the great purposes 
of God. 



APPENDIX. 



APPENDIX. 



Note to Page 13. 

A " Memoir of the Federal-street Church and Society," prepared 
by Judge Davis, and appended to Dr. Channing's sermon at the 
ordination of his colleague in 1824, contains a valuable sketch of the 
history of the congregation to that date. Judge Davis's long ac- 
quaintance with the society, and his fondness for historical inquiry, 
qualified him for the task, which he undertook as a labor of love. 
The materials for this memoir must, however, have been collected, 
in part, from oral testimony ; the accuracy of which, in one or two 
points of little importance, may be questioned. 

Judge Davis was a worshipper at the Federal-street meeting- 
house through the greater part of his long and useful and beautiful 
life. From an early period of his connection with the society, he 
showed his interest in its welfare by a ready co-operation in what- 
ever would promote its prosperity. The respect and love with which 
he was universally regarded followed him to the grave. Among 
the many honored and lamented ones who have gone from the fel- 
lowship of our earthly service to a higher temple, none have left 
behind them a dearer or sweeter remembrance. The office of dea- 
con, which he had held for nearly thirty years, he resigned only a 
few months before his death ; when, in the eighty-fifth year of his 
age, he expressed a desire, on account of " the incident infirmities of 
protracted life, to be released from all public trusts and engage- 
ments." May I here record my gratitude to one who welcomed me 
to his house on my coming to Boston, and, more than friend, was as 
a father through the whole of our subsequent connection ? 

9 



66 



MEMORIAL OF THE 



Note to Page 14. 

Berry Street, as it was usually called, was probably, in its ori- 
ginal name, Bury Street. Drake's " History of Boston," p. 804, 
gives us the tradition, that it was " said to have been named Bury 
Street by Theodore Atkinson, who came from Bury in Lancashire, 
England." The name of Channing Street was substituted, by vote 
of the city government, in 1845. 



Note to Page 15. 

The first meeting-house was unquestionably very plain in its 
appearance. Judge Davis speaks of it as having been originally a 
barn. In the "Life of Dr. Belknap," it is described as "a low 
wooden building of one story;" and his biographer adds, that, "when 
the church was rebuilt, the original house was moved to Cow Lane, 
now High Street, and used as a bake-house by a man named 
Kettle." 



The second house, though it showed an increase of wealth in the 
society, was an edifice of modest pretensions. In the first number 
of the "Polyanthos" (in the octavo form), published October, 1812, 
was given a " View of the Presbyterian Meeting-house formerly 
standing in Federal Street, Boston ; " which Judge Davis, who re- 
membered the house, pronounces "a faithful representation." — "It 
was a wooden edifice, with a tower and spire ; the tower fronting on 
Federal Street." In this tower were two doors ; and the house was 
also entered by a door on Bury Street, opposite the pulpit, which 
was on the north side of the house. From a vote passed " at a 
special meeting of the Committee, 14th November, 1806," we are 
led to believe that the people, to a late period, thought more of their 
spiritual than of their bodily necessities : — 

" Voted, That a stove be permitted to be placed in the Federal-street 
Church, without expense to the society ; to be erected under the direction 
of the Church Committee; its use to be discontinued at any time when 
the Committee shall direct." 



FEDERAL-STREET MEETING-HOUSE. 



07 



The engraving below is copied from the " Polyanthos," in which 
a few sentences are added by way of " historical sketch." 



FEDERAL-STREET MEETING-HOUSE. 




Erected 1744 : Removed 1809. 



Note to Page 16. 

The " Panoplist," in the ninth number of the second volume (for 
February, 1807) contains a paper, entitled "Memoirs of Rev. John 
Moorhead,* First Minister and Founder of a Presbyterian Church in 
Boston," written " at the request of a respectable member and officer 
in the church," by one who, though he speaks of himself as much 
younger than Mr. Moorhead, was " well acquainted with him," and 
who is understood to have been the Rev. David M'Clure, D.D. Dr. 



* The spelling of the name in the inscription, a copy of which is given on 
a subsequent page, probably represented the usual pronunciation, but Avas un- 
doubtedly a mistake. The appearance of the plate which bears the inscription 
leads us to think it was prepared in haste. 



G8 



MEMORIAL OF THE 



M'Clure says, that "either before" the members of the congregation 
" left Ireland, or on their arrival, they invited Mr. Moorhead to be 
their minister, and he arrived in Boston soon after them." Presi- 
dent Allen, in his Biographical Dictionary, says that " he arrived at 
Boston in 1729 or 1730." Judge Davis, however, says that " the 
llev. Mr. Moorhead, then about twenty three years of age, accom- 
panied" the emigrants who "arrived in Boston in the year 1727." 
To the record of baptisms, kept by Mr. Moorhead, in legible, though 
crowded lines, are prefixed the words : — "A List of all y e Children 
and Adult persons to whom I have administer'* 1 Baptism since my 
Settlement in Boston in y e year 1780 March 31 st ." The similar 
record of marriages, also in Mr. Moorhead's handwriting, is intro- 
duced with the words : — "A list of Marriages from my Settlement 
March y e 30 th 1730." The difference of a single day in the two 
dates may have arisen from clerical inaccuracy ; but the difference 
in regard to the time of Mr. Moorhead's arrival in this country must 
be traced to the uncertainty of tradition. I am inclined to think 
that the year 1729 would be the true date. 

Dr. M'Clure states that " Mr. Moorhead was born of pious and 
respectable parents, in Newton near Belfast. His father, who was 
a farmer, gave him the best advantages within his power, for im- 
provement in learning." His faithfulness as a Christian minister is 
described in the warmest terms. 

" Once or twice in the year, Mr. Moorhead visited all the families of 
his congregation, in town and country (one of the elders, in rotation, ac- 
companying him), for the purpose of religious instruction. On these 
occasions, he addressed the heads of families with freedom and affection, 
and inquired into their spiritual state ; catechized and exhorted the chil- 
dren and servants ; and concluded his visit with prayer. In this last 
solemn act (which he always performed on his knees at home and in the 
houses of his people), he used earnestly to pray for the family, and the 
spiritual circumstances of each member as they respectively needed. 
In addition to this labor of family visitations, he also convened, twice in 
the year, the families, according to the districts, at the meeting-house ; 
when he conversed with the heads of families, asking them questions on 
some of the most important doctrines of the gospel, agreeably to the West- 
minster Confession of Faith ; and catechized the children and youth. 

" He was unwearied in his endeavors to promote the edification and 
salvation of his people. His thoughts and plans of benevolence extended 
also to their temporal concerns. He encouraged the industrious by such 
small pecuniary aids as were within his ability to bestow, or solicited 
assistance for them. Virtuous strangers from North Britain and Ireland 



FEDERAL-STREET MEETING-HOUSE. 



69 



were sure to find a friend in him. As a good bishop, he was given to hos- 
pitality. As a sample of this benevolence, allow me to mention, that it was 
his custom, when he heard of ministers from the country, who were stran- 
gers in Boston, at public-houses, to go or send for them to come to his 
hospitable roof. 

"He was faithful and impartialin his duty as a reprover of error and 
vice in all their forms. While he rebuked with sharpness, he showed an 
affectionate concern for the offender ; and, by meekness and condescension, 
labored to reclaim him. With equal cheerfulness, he visited the hut or 
the garret of the poor, and the parlor of the rich, to do them good. Some 
were offended at the severity of his reproofs, and withdrew from his society 
to others, where they could find more indulgence. He was universally 
respected by the good, and feared by those of the opposite character. 

Mr. Moorhead was a plain, evangelical, and practical preacher. His 
discourses appeared to be extemporaneous. He expounded the Scrip- 
tures in course in the morning, and delivered a sermon in the afternoon. 
.... Four times in the year, he celebrated the Lord's Supper : they were 
seasons of great solemnity. On these occasions, he commonly had the 
assistance of one or two of his brethren, particularly the Rev. Mr. M'Gre- 
gore, and afterwards the Rev. Mr. Clarke of Londonderry ; and once of 
the celebrated Mr. Whitefield, when every heart was moved by his solemn 
and enraptured performances. On these occasions, each minister served 
a table in rotation. At those seasons of fervent zeal in religion, the house 
could not contain the multitudes eager to hear the words of eternal life. 
The doors and windows were crowded with spectators." 

The notice of Mr. Moorhead's death, in a newspaper of the day, 
makes us acquainted with the place of his residence : — " Died, 
Rev. John Moorhead, in the 70th year of his age. Funeral from 
dwelling-house near Liberty Tree." 



Note to Page 17. 

Of the ten years which intervened between the ministries of Mr. 
Moorhead and Mr. Annan, we know very little. Judge Davis, in 
his " Memoir," gives us merely these facts : — 

" We are not informed particularly of the history of the church 
in the interval between the death of Mr. Moorhead and the instal- 
ment of the Rev. David Annan, as their pastor, in 1783. This 
period embraces the years of the Revolutionary War ; and, during 



70 



MEMORIAL OF THE 



some part of that time, religious worship was not regularly kept up 
in the society. After the evacuation of Boston by the British forces, 
in 1776, the Rev. Andrew Croswell, who returned to town from 
Plymouth, where he lived during the siege of Boston, was employed 
to preach at the church in Long Lane ; his own society in School 
Street having fallen into decay, from which it never afterwards 
revived." 

The Rev. David Annan, as I have understood, was a brother 
of the minister of Federal Street, whose name was Robert. From 
Rev. Dr. Morison I have learned that Robert was born in Cupar- 
Fife, Scotland ; and, before he came to Boston, was settled in Wall- 
kill, Orange County, N.Y. 



Note to Page 20. 



A " Life of Dr. Belknap, with Selections from his Correspondence 
and other Writings, collected and arranged by his Grand-daughter," 
was published in 1847. Some dates, not given in the sermon, may 
with propriety appear here. He was born June 4, 1744; and died 
June 20, 1798, being seized with apoplexy, which closed his life a 
very few hours after the attack. A "fragment of poetry," found 
after his decease, shows that " the manner of his death was singularly 
in accordance with his own preference ; " while it furnishes evidence 
of his facility of versification. 

" When faith and patience, hope and love, 
Have made us meet for heaven above, 
How blest the privilege to rise, 
Snatched in a moment to the skies ; 
Unconscious to resign our breath, 
Nor taste the bitterness of death ! 
Such be my lot, Lord, if thou please, 
To die in silence and at ease. 
When thou dost know that I'm prepared, 
Oh ! seize me quick to my reward. 
But if thy wisdom sees it best 
To turn thine ear from this request ; 



FEDERAL-STREET MEETING-HOUSE. 



71 



If sickness be the appointed way 
To waste this frame of human clay ; 
If, worn with grief and racked with pain, 
This earth must turn to earth again, — 
Then let thine angels round me stand ; 
Support me by thy powerful hand : 
Let not my faith or patience move, 
Nor aught abate my hope or love ; 
But brighter may my graces shine, 
Till they're absorbed in light divine ! " 



Dr. Belknap was ordained at Dover, Jan. 18, 1766 ; and decided 
to leave Dover in September, 1786, in consequence of "the embar- 
rassment occasioned by the non-payment of his salary : " which, in 
his own words, was " a continual source of vexation both of body 
and mind; taking off ray attention from my proper business, and un- 
fitting me for the duties of my station." On the 28th of January, 
1787, he was invited to the Federal-street meeting-house by a vote 
of " the Proprietors and others of the church." The letter addressed 
to him by "the Proprietors' Committee" bears the signatures of 
" Simon Elliot, Rob. McNeill, Robert Wier, Jno. Boies, Moses 
Black, Archibald McNeil, Thomas Lamb." Before his installation, 
a letter signed " Moorhead's Ghost," and " directed to the once 
Presbyterian Society in Boston," was received by one of the dea- 
cons, " intimating that their pastor elect was a Universalist ; wonder- 
ing that they should choose such a man, as much as if Murray 
himself were chosen;" and "advising them to put certain questions" 
to him. Mr. Belknap immediately met the Committee, and made a 
frank statement of his views on the questions presented in the let- 
ter. A passage from this statement is worthy of preservation and 
careful perusal : — " Whether the second death is an utter extinc- 
tion of being, or wdiether the wicked will be delivered from it by 
another resurrection, are points which I cannot determine ; nor do I 
think the Scriptures afford us full satisfaction on these subjects : so 
that I expect no full solution in this world, and am fully contented 
with believing that the surest way for us is to believe in Christ, to 
fear God, and work righteousness, in obedience to the gospel, and 
thus secure our own happiness, without prying too curiously into the 
secret and future designs of God." He also signified his "content- 
ment, if, upon this declaration of my mind, the Committee see fit to 



72 



MEMORIAL OF THE 



recommend to the society to recall the invitation they have given 
me to settle with you." The Committee showed their sound judg- 
ment in " not thinking the matters in question so essential as to sus- 
pend their proceedings. Some of them said they differed from me 
in their apprehension of these points ; but, as we agreed in the main 
truths of Christianity, — faith, repentance, and holiness, and salva- 
tion through Jesus Christ, — there was no need of further debate." 



" As a preacher," says the author of the " Life," " he was earnest 
in his exhortations, but simple in his manner of address. His voice 
was clear, and well modulated ; but he used no gesticulations to en- 
force his arguments. His sermons were eminently practical; and 
his aim was to improve the hearts and lives of his people, rather 
than to disturb their minds with the discussion of controverted points 
of Christian doctrine. He considered his relation as a minister of 
the gospel as the noblest that man could sustain to his fellow-man ; 
and he faithfully fulfilled its requirements, from the time when he 
entered upon its sacred duties to the last hours of his earthly 
existence." 



One of the most interesting passages of Dr. Belknap's life was 
his connection with the abolition of slavery in this Commonwealth. 
The circumstances are very clearly stated in the little volume to 
which I have already been largely indebted. 

" In the month of February, 1788, three negroes were decoyed on board 
a vessel in Boston Harbor, and taken to the Danish island of St. Bartholo- 
mew, where they were offered for sale. This infamous transaction excited 
great indignation in the community ; and Mr. Belknap consulted some of 
his friends as to the practicability of improving this feeling to effect the 
abolition of slavery in the State. His brother-in-law, Mr. Samuel Eliot, 
agreed with him, that the time was most opportune ; but said the difficulty 
in such cases was, who should step forward ; and recommended him to 
suggest to the Association of Ministers, at their next meeting, a petition 
to the General Court, whose session was then about to commence : if he 
failed to gain the co-operation of the ministers, to apply to the Humane 
Society ; and, at all events, to have a petition draughted. This advice, Mr. 
Belknap complied with. He drew up a petition, which his friends pro- 
nounced 'incapable of amendment;' gained the support of the Association, 
and of a large number of citizens besid3. The blacks also presented a 
petition, written by Prince Hall, one of their number ; and there was one 



FEDERAL-STREET MEETING-HOUSE. 



73 



from the Quakers, presented at a former session, lying on the table. The 
effect of this movement, so judiciously timed, was the passage of an Act, 
March 26, 1788, 'to prevent the slave-trade, and for granting relief to the 
families of such unhappy persons as may be kidnapped or decoyed away 
from this Commonwealth.' " 



Besides his " History of New Hampshire" and his "American 
Biography," Dr. Belknap published " The Foresters ; an American 
Tale," which reached a second edition. On the 22d October, 1792, 
he " delivered, at the request of the Massachusetts Historical So- 
ciety, a Centennial Discourse, intended to commemorate the dis- 
covery of America by Christopher Columbus." The " Convention 
Sermon" was preached by him in 1796. Other sermons from his 
pen were given to the press. The first edition of his " Sacred 
Poetry, consisting of Psalms and Hymns adapted to Christian De- 
votion in Public and Private, selected from the best Authors, with 
Variations and Additions," was published in 1795. " Several of 
the hymns," we are told, were " of his own composition." This 
book continued to be used by the Federal-street society till the 
year 1837, when Greenwood's "Collection" was adopted in its 
place. 



Dr. Belknap's funeral took place on the 22d of June ; the pro- 
cession passing from his residence in Lincoln Street to the meeting- 
house, where a sermon was preached by Dr. Kirkland, then minister 
of the New South Church, from John ix. 4. One or two extracts 
from this discourse will show the impression he had made on those 
who knew him best : — 

"With what diligence and zeal he strove to acquire and communicate 
Christian knowledge, none present can be ignorant. Seizing the early 
hours of the day, superior to the enticements of indolence, abhorring idle- 
ness, finishing whatever study or inquiry he had begun, and using recrea- 
tions and visits as preparations for serious pursuits, his mind was enriched 
with a large store of theological and evangelical learning. But his ardent 
curiosity did not confine itself to the mere studies of his profession. Not 
by slighting any of the public or private duties of his office, but by su- 
perior economy of time, and industry, he redeemed leisure to carry his 
researches into other fields of literature suited to gratify his taste and 
increase his usefulness. How well he joined to theology and general 

10 



74 



MEMORIAL OF THE 



literature the knowledge of human nature and the characters of men was 
evinced by his discourses, adapted to real life, and unfolding the secret 
springs of action ; and by his conversation and behavior, suited to per- 
sons, times, and places." 

" How he magnified the office of the Christian ministry, you and others 
who enjoyed his ministrations, who joined in his prayers, who listened to 
his preaching, and saw him in the private duties of his station, can better 
conceive than I describe. If a judicious and seasonable choice of subjects, 
pertinency of thoughts, clearness of method, and warmth of application ; 
if language plain and perspicuous, polished and nervous ; if striking illus- 
trations ; if evangelical doctrines and motives ; if a seriousness and fervor, 
evincing that the preacher's own mind was affected ; if a pronunciation 
free and natural, distinct and emphatical, — are excellences in public teach- 
ing, you have possessed them in your deceased pastor. . . . You are wit- 
nesses what is lost, no less in private conduct and example than in public 
ministrations. . . . You are witnesses how useful was his conversation, 
how simple and unaffected were his manners." 



Note to Page 21. 

From "Minutes of the Debates in the Convention," preserved 
among the memoranda of Dr. Belknap's interleaved almanacs, he 
appears to have been a frequent attendant and careful listener. 
These minutes are printed in the account of " the Belknap Dona- 
tion," given in the " Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical 
Society, 1855-1858." I copy the memoranda which relate to the 
use of the meeting-house by the Convention : — 

" Wednesday, Jan. 9. — The Convention of this Commonwealth met 
at the State House in this town to consider the new Constitution of Go- 
vernment for the United States. 

" Thursday, 10th, P.M. — The Representatives' Room being too small 
to contain them, they removed to Mr. Thacher's meeting-house. 

" Friday, 11th. — The meeting-house being too large and high to hear 
one another, they got tired of it ; and on — 

" Saturday, 12th, returned to the State House. 

" Monday, 14th. — They complain of the place as too much crowded, 
and the air unwholesome ; but the weather is, and has been for some days, 
extremely cold. However, on — 



FEDERAL-STREET MEETING-HOUSE. 



75 



" Tuesday, loth, they chose a Committee to provide some other place. 
This Committee came to me to speak for our meeting-house in Long Lane. 
I informed our society's Committee of it, and they agree to meet them 
to-morrow. 

"Wednesday, 16th. — Our meeting-house in Long Lane preparing for 
the reception of the Convention to-morrow. Several carpenters and other 
tradesmen exerted themselves to fit the house ; and Thursday, p.m., the 
Convention removed into it." 



Mote to Page 23. 



Dr. Popkin was born in Boston, June 19, 1771. He graduated 
at Cambridge in 1792, and afterwards held the office of tutor in the 
College from 1795 to 1798. He was installed over the First Parish 
in Newbury about two years after leaving Boston ; where he re- 
mained till October, 1815, when he removed to Cambridge to take 
charge of the College Professorship of Greek, from which he was 
transferred, in 1826, to the Eliot Professorship of Greek, which lie 
held till 1833. He spent the remainder of his life in Cambridge, in 
the quiet and happy seclusion which was so consonant to his tastes. 
His death took place on the 2d of March, 1851, when he had al- 
most reached the age of eighty. 

" In person, Dr. Popkin was of a tall and manly figure. His walk was 
upright, and his step was firm and vigorous. His brain was large and 
massive, and his head well-proportioned and grand. The character of 
his face strongly resembled the old prints of John Dryden. No one could 
approach him without feeling the power as well as the singularity and an- 
tique simplicity of his presence." 



From notices in the papers of the time, it appears that the Ordi- 
nation services at Federal Street were attended at three o'clock in 
the afternoon, on the 10th of July, 1799.* 

" On Wednesday last, the Rev. John S. Popkin, of this town, was or- 
dained to the pastoral charge of the church of Christ in Federal Street. 



* The " 16th of July," given as the date in Prof. Felton's " Memorial," must be 
a misprint. 



76 



MEMORIAL OF THE 



The Rev. Mr. Wright, of Bolton, introduced the solemnities by prayer. 
The Hew Dr. Eliot delivered a liberal, judicious, and appropriate ser- 
mon from these words of the apostle to the Corinthians : ' Though I speak 
with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become 
as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.' The Rev. Dr. West prayed pre- 
vious to the charge, which was given by the Rev. Dr. Howard. The 
right hand of fellowship was presented by the Rev. Mr. Kirkland, in an 
affectionate and pathetic manner ; and the closing prayer was made by 
the Rev. Dr. Lathrop." 



In 1852, a volume was published, entitled " A Memorial of the 
Rev. John Snelling Popkin, D.D., late Eliot Professor of Greek 
Literature in Harvard University, edited by Cornelius C. Felton, 
his successor in office ; " consisting principally of selections from 
the lectures and sermons which Dr. Popkin had left. To these se- 
lections, Prof. Felton prefixed a biographical sketch, — a delightful 
specimen of just and graceful biography. A few extracts from this 
sketch may set Dr. Popkin's character more distinctly before readers 
of the present generation : — 

" Dr. Popkin's whole life was marked by kindness, honesty, and 
piety. He had, more than most men, ' that simplicity wherein nobleness 
of nature most largely shares.' The prominent features of his religious 
character were reverence, conscientiousness, charity, and moderation. His 
views were what are called Evangelical, as distinguished both from Uni- 
tarianism and Rationalism ; but he never engaged in theological contro- 
versy, and did not like to be called after the leader of any particular sect. 
' To confess the truth,' he says, ' and that without pride or pleasure, But 
rather, on some accounts, with regret, I have not much followed any man 
or system, though I highly respected both my teachers. I have sought, 
very imperfectly, to derive my sentiments from the Bible. I was appro- 
bated by the Boston Association, I suspect, as a person well known, but 
known as an anomaly, and admitted in charity. I like what is commonly 
understood by the term ' evangelical' preaching, but not the extremes on 
any side. Yet these extremes appear to be the very essence, the essen- 
tial points, of the various systems: and for this reason, that they are the 
chief points of difference, and are therefore most closely and stoutly 
fenced and opposed and defended. And these points are such as are most 
beyond our comprehension. In my humble opinion, religion is, or ought 
to be, in its highest points, more a matter of sentiment than definition.' 

" In the course of his clerical life, he published a few occasional ser- 
mons. Those discourses are models of excellence, both in matter and 
manner. In soundness of . thought, clearness of expression, and strength 
of style, they remind us of the better class of the old English divines. 



FEDERAL-STREET MEETING-HOUSE. 



77 



" His acquaintance with the Scriptures rested upon a profound know- 
ledge of the original languages in which they were written. During the 
latter years of his life, he abandoned classical literature almost wholly, 
and devoted all his remaining energies to the reverent study of the Old 
and the New Testament, especially the former, in the Hebrew and the 
Septuagint translation. 

" So lived, so thought, worked, and died, Dr. Popkin, — a man of rare 
abilities, who shunned the public eye, but left the stamp of fine qualities, 
and rich individuality of character, on the minds of many distinguished 
men who have been educated, within the last half-century, at Harvard 
University." 



Note to Page 26. 

The corner-stone was laid April 11, 1809. The only reference 
to the occasion in the Proprietors' " Records " is contained in this 
short paragraph : — 

"Boston, 11th April, 1809. — The corner-stone of the new meeting- 
house in Federal Street was laid this day, at twelve o'clock, by the Rev. 
William E. Channing, Pastor of the Society." 

A journal, kept by the late Samuel H. Walley, Esq., — which, 
through the kindness of one of his family, I have been permitted to 
see, — gives us a little additional information: — 

"April 11, 1809, Tuesday. — Rev. W. E. Channing this morning laid 
the corner-stone (S.E.) of the new house of worship erecting in Federal 
Street. Rev. Dr. Kirkland and Judge Davis, Deacon Wright and myself, 
assisted. Prayer previous." 

Mr. Eli Curtis of Scituate, who was one of the workmen on the 
building, and was present at the laying of the corner-stone, has fur- 
nished us with an account of the ceremony. As his recollection, 
however, about the plate, is inexact, its accuracy in other respects 
may be doubtful. He says that " there were about twenty or 
twenty-four ladies and gentlemen present, who proceeded to the 
house adjoining ; and there prayer was offered, in which the re- 
verend clergyman sought that no harm might occur during the 
erection : and no accident befell the laborer." 



78 



MEMORIAL OF THE 



We give an exact copy of the inscription on the plate which was 
found when the building was taken down in 1859 : — 

/ hele eieded <^IW 4^2(j \. 

J. Morehead, iPav/ot, 

Utebmli 4W q** 
Memwed and 4ke joundaiion oj 4tu& 

V$foiae laid ^Ijnil 444k 48C(J 
William E Channing 
ffiadoi / 



From Mr. Walley's journal, we learn that on " March 26, 1809, 
Lord's Day, in the afternoon, Rev. Mr. Channing preached from 
Ps. xxvi. 8. This discourse was occasioned by the contemplated 
destruction of our present house of worship in the course of this 
week ; in which we shall, consequently, never meet again. His dis- 
course was appropriate, solemn, and affecting. The house was very 
much crowded." 

Neither the sermon preached on leaving the old meeting-house, 
nor that delivered at the dedication of the new house, appears to 
have been printed. The extract on pages 28, 29, is taken from the 
manuscript, which has been kindly put into my hands. 



During the interval between the removal of the old and the com- 
pletion of the new meeting-house, the Federal-street congregation 
worshipped at Church Green ; the ministers of the two societies 
preaching alternately. As they were on the point of entering their 
new house, the Proprietors passed the following vote of thanks : — 

"Nov. 18, 1809. — Voted, That the thanks of this society be given to the 
religious society of the New South Meeting for the friendly and accepta- 
ble accommodation offered and afforded to members of this society, in 



FEDERAL-STREET MEETING-HOUSE. 



79 



their place of worship, while our new house has been building ; that this 
vote be communicated to said society by the deacons ; and that they invite 
the reverend minister and people of that society to attend with us the 
dedication of the new meeting-house on Thursday next, and also request 
their minister to assist ours on that day." 



The erection of the meeting-house appears to have proceeded 
without delay. The cost, when the work was completed, was found 
to have been $34,457.57. The walls of the house, including the 
porch, measured ninety-three feet in length and seventy-two feet 
in breadth. It contained ninety pews on the floor, and twenty-six in 
the galleries. The interior was singularly free from those defects, 
in regard to sight and sound, which are a frequent cause of annoy- 
ance in Protestant houses of worship. The pulpit was remarkable 
for the convenience which it afforded, without offending the eye by- 
its size ; as was shown on the last day of its use, when ten persons 
were comfortably seated within its enclosure. The architect to 
whom the society were indebted for so commodious an edifice was 
the late Charles Bulfinch, Esq. From a vote passed after a few 
months' trial of their new sanctuary, we are led to think, that, in 
one feature, its appearance w r as different from that with which we 
have been familiar : — 

"March 4, 1811. — Voted, That there be a window, or windows, back 
of the pulpit ; it being found necessary for the admittance of light and 
air." 



An organ was first provided, on entering the new meeting-house, 
in 1809 ; a second instrument of the same kind took its place in 
1822 ; and a third, made by the Messrs. Hook, was used for the 
first time, Jan. 26, 1845. Gas was introduced in 1842. 



The hymns sung at the dedication may all be found in Green- 
wood's Collection; viz., Psalm 87 of Belknap's (Hymn 529 of 
Greenwood's), Psalm 100 of Belknap's (Hymn 1 of Greenwood's), 
Psalm 132 of Belknap's (Hymn 17 of Greenwood's, in part). 



80 MEMORIAL OF THE 

The engraver Las given a faithful view of the exterior. 



FEDERAL-STREET MEETING-HOUSE. 




Erected 1S09 : Removed 1859. 



The bell, which had for thirty-five years called the worshippers to 
Federal Street, was displaced by one, probably, of greater size or 
sweeter tone ; but was not allowed to relinquish its sacred service. 
At a meeting of the proprietors, Dec. o, 1810, it was — 

" Voted, That the bell -which belonged to the old meeting-house be 
presented to the society in Newton, under the pastoral care of the Rev. 
Mr. Homer." 

The letter of the " Special Committee," intrusted with convey- 
ing the gift, shows that the Proprietors did but follow an example by 
which they had themselves been benefited. 

" Brethren, — Since the erection of our new meeting-house, a new bell 
has been provided, which renders our old one useless to us. This was 



FEDERAL-STREET MEETING-HOUSE. 81 

given by the Brattle-street Society, in 1773, when that society received a 
donation of a new bell from the late Gov. Hancock. We are unwilling 
that that which has so long been the monitor for Christian worship should 
now be devoted to any other use : and, having learned that you are desti- 
tute of a bell for your meeting-house, we are induced to hope that this 
may be acceptable to you ; and we desire you to receive it as a testimony 
of our Christian fellowship and brotherly love." 

A reply was received, " expressive of the warmest gratitude for 
this benefaction, the value of which is greatly enhanced by the sen- 
timent you express in the conclusion of your letter accompanying 
the bell. You desire us 'to receive it as a testimony of your Chris- 
tian fellowship and brotherly love ; ' which sentiment we do most 
sincerely reciprocate, and beg you to accept our best wishes for your 
prosperity and happiness individually and as a Christian society." 



Note to Page 31. 

As these "Lines" contain, I presume, the only attempt ever 
made to celebrate the beauties of our meeting-house in verse, and 
will probably be new to every one under whose eye they shall now 
fall, their perusal may afford some pleasure. They appeared in 
the "Columbian Centinel" of Nov. 22, 1809. 

"LINES 

On viewing the new Meeting-house in Federal Street. 

Crowned with new grace, with towering height sublime, 

Like a fair phoenix rising in its prime, — 

'Mid circling domes in humbler grandeur spread, 

This sacred temple rears its matchless head ; 

Whose spire majestic, piercing through the air, 

Lifts its proud point to heaven, and glitters there. 

What though its Gothic form, by taste refined, 

Speak the rare genius of the gifted mind ; 

What though the hand of skill would here impart 

A lasting image of creative art ; 

Though the fine artist here might richly trace 

The perfect harmony of strength and grace, 

While o'er each ' curving line ' in silent praise 

The eye, unwearied, points its ardent gaze ; 

11 



MEMORIAL OF THE 



Though the full mind its quick perception give, 
And the bright column through the fancy live : 
"lis not to these the heart delighted soars, 
And through the tear-drop all its rapture pours ; 
Nor yet for these the yielding soul would raise 
Its grateful homage through the voice of praise. 
To thee, great God ! the rising thought would swell, 
While on this spot remembrance loves to dwell. 
Through these blest walls thy sacred truth shall flow, 
Like oil of gladness on the breast of woe ; 
Here shall the beam of hope, with force divine, 
Spread its clear light, and through the bosom shine ; 
Here shall the lip of inspiration move, 
Like heavenly music through the voice of love ; 
Here the bright sparks of genius shall respire, 
Like the quick flashes of electric fire ; 
While through each heart the mellowed accents roll, 
To calm the passions and exalt the soul. 

To thee, great God ! the tribute tear shall flow, 
Warm from that heart where all thy mercies glow. 
Here did thy guiding care direct the way 
Which bowed this spirit to thy sovereign sway. 
Thou Best of beings ! taught by thee, how sweet 
Bloomed thy fair path beneath these wayward feet ! 
Here did thy pity every doubt remove, 
Through the full stream of thy forgiving love ; 
Here did thy smile of peace, before this sight, 
Unveil the vision of celestial light ; 
Here the dark mists of error passed away, 
Like gathering clouds before the dawning day ; 
Here the vain world no pleasure left behind 
To lure my youth or cheat the aspiring mind ; 
But Thou the richest blessing did impart, 
And stamped tliy image on this grateful heart. 

Long may thy light within this sacred place 
Attract new souls before thy throne of grace, 
Which, like the rays of that o'erflowing light, 
Shall rise and flourish with increasing height, 
Pure as their source, diffusing o'er the earth 
The warmth which animates their second birth! 
Then, like the glorious sun, whose beams decline 
To rise more brilliant with a light divine, 
Rich as thy grace shall burst each cloud away, 
And shine resplendent through eternal day." 



FEDERAL-STREET MEETING-HOUSE. 



83 



Note to Page 33. 

The Vestry was built in consequence of a letter addressed by Dr. 
Channing in May, 1818, to the Standing Committee; which letter 
was printed, with a plan for carrying out his suggestion, by means of 
a voluntary subscription, appended, and was distributed through the 
society. In a report, made many years afterwards, on a proposition 
for the sale of the vestry, the reasons given by Dr. Channing for its 
erection are presented in a condensed form ; and have a peculiar 
interest, from the reference they contain to institutions at that time 
connected with the church: — 

" The objects in contemplation were, to have a place for catechizing 
and instructing the children of the society ; a singing-school ; a charity- 
school, then existing (and which has continued until a recent date), sup- 
ported by our society and the New South church, and conducted, in part, 
by young ladies of the church ; a Sunday school, then just commenced ; 
accommodation for meetings of the church, or other portions of the society, 
for which the common place of worship is too large ; and for meetings of 
young ladies of the society, accustomed to meet for the purpose of being 
instructed by the pastor, — with a prospective view to similar meetings of 
young men ; and, finally, for the reception of a Parish Library, considered 
as promising great and lasting benefit to the society." 

The report gives a succinct account of the progress of the under- 
taking : — 

" These overtures were promptly sustained by the Standing Committee ; 
and, upon being communicated to the society, were received with general 
approbation. A subscription was opened, and the sum of $3,890 was 
offered for the accomplishment of the object, by a subscription from one 
hundred and twenty-one individuals, members of the society. A lot of 
land adjoining the Parish House was purchased ; a Building Committee 
was appointed ; and on the 5th of December, 1818, that Committee an- 
nounced the completion of the building." 

The whole expense of the building and land was $3,928.48. 
A library was commenced by the purchase of eighty volumes 
belonging to the late Rev. S. C. Thacher, and was increased by 
donations from members of the society ; but it seems never to have 
come into general use till it was removed into a room under the 
porch of the meeting-house, which was provided by the Standing 



84 



MEMORIAL OF THE 



Committee in 1848. The proposition for the sale of the vestry did 
not prevail ; and, an attempt to purchase land in the rear also fail- 
ing, the building continued to be used for occasional meetings. It 
did not furnish sufficient accommodation for the Sunday school ; but 
for many years gathered in, through the week, the children of the 
neighborhood, who received the instruction of the charity school long 
taught by one who has now passed into a higher world. 

Of late years, the vestry had become so inconvenient, in conse- 
quence of its remoteness from the residence of most of the congre- 
gation, and disagreeable from the want of free ventilation, that it 
was not used for religious meetings. Two years before its removal, 
it was turned to a purpose not less Christian, to which allusion is 
made in the discourse. On the application of Miss Harriet Ryan, 
it was granted to her for a hospital which she proposed to establish 
for women who were suffering under the fatal malady of consump- 
tion, or, in some instances, from other disease, and were unable to 
provide comfortable nursing for themselves. With equal ingenuity 
and humanity, she converted the building, by a few alterations, into 
a neat and commodious home for about a dozen patients, to whom 
she showed herself a true " sister of charity." The expenses of the 
institution were met by the liberality of friends, whom Miss Ryan's 
disinterested and trustful spirit inspired with sympathy. A sincere 
member of the Roman-Catholic Church, she allowed no sectarian or 
ecclesiastical influences to control her beneficence ; and threw 
around the vestry, which we had thought unfit for any sacred use, 
an atmosphere of love and peace that made it " holy ground." On 
her suggestion, and in compliance with her earnest desire, the hos- 
pital was known by the name of the " Channing Home." When it 
became necessary to leave Berry Street, it was removed to a larger 
and pleasanter house in South Street. 



The parsonage was built before the vestry. At a meeting of 
the Proprietors, held Oct. 12, 1803, "the Standing Committee com- 
municated to the society, that, according to the agreement made 
with the Rev. Mr. Channing, a dwelling will be wanted for him 
some time next year." The Committee were " authorized to sell 
the pews in the meeting-house belonging to the society" (which had 
been recently " erected in the galleries "), and apply the proceeds 
" towards buying a dwelling-house." At a meeting held March 5, 



FEDERAL-STREET MEETING-HOUSE. 



85 



1804, the Committee were " authorized to build, buy, or hire a 
dwelling-house for the use of the minister, as they shall think best." 
From a subsequent record, it appears that an agreement had been 
made for the purchase of a house in Federal Court ; which the 
owner was unwilling to fulfil. The Committee must have proceeded 
to erect a house ; for in the " Act declaring and confirming the 
Incorporation of the Proprietors," passed June 15, 1805, they were 
empowered to " raise such sums of money as they shall judge neces- 
sary," not only for the support of public worship, but for other 
" parochial and incidental expenses, including any sums that may be 
due for the completion of the ministerial house lately erected by the 
said proprietors, on the lot adjoining said meeting-house, for the ac- 
commodation of the minister." The debt incurred by building the 
parsonage was liquidated by the sale of pews in the new meeting- 
house ; which yielded a considerable excess over the cost of its 
erection. 



Note to Page 36. 



The dates of Dr. Channing's life are known to every one who has 
read the " Memoir," prepared with such a reverential and faithful 
love by his nephew, and published, in three volumes, in 1848. Born 
in Newport, R.I., April 7, 1780, he died at Bennington, Vt., Oct. 2, 
1842 : having spent a year and a half of his early life in Virginia; 
a little more than a year, at a later period, in Europe; and the 
winter of 1830 in Santa Cruz, which he visited in the hope of 
benefit to his health. The rest of his life was divided between 
Newport ; Cambridge ; Portsmouth, R.L, where he usually spent 
his summers ; and Boston. 



Dr. Channing was solicited to allow himself to be considered 
a candidate for the Brattle-street pulpit, in which he preached 
before receiving the invitation from Federal Street. His reasons 
for refusal are given in a letter which may be found in the "Me- 
moir" (i. 166, 7). 



so 



MEMORIAL OF THE 



Dr. Channing's Ordination took place on Wednesday, June 1, 
1803. The introductory prayer was offered by Rev. Dr. Holmes, 
of Cambridge ; the sermon was preached by Rev. Prof. Tappan, of 
Harvard University, from Ephes. iii. 8, 9 ; the ordaining prayer 
-was offered by Rev. Dr. Osgood, of Medford; the charge was given 
by Rev. Henry Charming, of New London ; the right hand of fel- 
lowship by Rev. Mr. Tuckerman, of Chelsea ; and the concluding 
prayer was offered by Rev. Dr. Eckley, of Boston. 



It has been said, in the pulpit and from the press, that Dr. Chan- 
ning renounced the Unitarian faith at the close of his life. The 
statement has been repeated, after a denial of its justice by those 
who were best informed on the subject ; and my testimony may, 
therefore, have little weight with such as find it easy to make their 
credulity follow their wish. I am glad, however, of an opportunity 
to speak, as I think I may, with confidence and emphasis, of the 
incorrectness (a harsher word would not be out of place) of such an 
assertion. What Dr. Channing said, in the latter years of his life 
(Memoir, i. 161), was true to the end : — "I was never, in any sense, 
a Trinitarian." Only one unacquainted alike with the character of 
Dr. Channing's mind and with his style of expression, could have 
found a shadow of proof to the contrary in his language. Neither 
his disavowal of sympathy with the denominational action of Unita- 
rians, nor the apostrophe at the close of his Lenox Address, affords 
the slightest ground for imputing to him a change of doctrinal be- 
lief. The intimation, that his convictions underwent a change in 
his last illness, should be put to rest by the explicit contradiction 
of his biographer, who, more than any one else, was authorized to 
speak on the subject. I quote his decisive language: — 

" I feel as if it were insulting the memory of my uncle to refer even to 
the assertion, that, on his deathbed, he changed his opinions. But the 
urgency of many correspondents induces me here to say, once for all, that 
there was no foundation whatever for such a rumor. Weakness, the vio- 
lence of fever, and the earnest desire for his restoration, prevented 
conversation, on his part and ours. But every word, act, look, showed 
us how perfect was his peace. Every word that he is known to have 
spoken, indicating his own religious opinions and feelings, is recorded on 
the preceding pages. This distinct statement should for ever put an end 
to the calumny referred to, among all honest men." 



FEDERAL-STREET MEETING-HOUSE. 



87 



The funeral services, after Dr. Channing's death, were attended 
at the meeting-house ; the interment following, at Mount Auburn. 
At a meeting of the congregation, Oct. 9, 1842, a Committee was 
chosen, who, at an adjourned meeting, were directed to "carry into 
effect the provisions reported by them for erecting a monument, that 
might in some degree express the sense, entertained by those whose 
Christian teacher he had long been, of his character and of what 
they must always owe to him." A subscription, amounting to nearly 
two thousand dollars, was immediately made by members of the 
congregation ; and a monument, the design of which was furnished 
by the late Mr. Allston, was placed over his remains. In their 
final report, the Committee speak of a duty which would still remain 
for the congregation to discharge. The sacredness of the trust, 
which the congregation assumed by a subsequent vote, and the 
impressiveness of the language in which it is described, justify our 
extracting this part of the report: — 

" They feel that yet one more duty growing out of this solemn dispen- 
sation still rests, and should continue to rest, upon us and those who may 
come after us. They feel that a connection should always be maintained 
between this congregation and the spot where are deposited the remains 
of the Christian pastor who has done so much to consecrate and bless our 
past meetings by his labors, his instructions, and his prayers. To us, 
indeed, of the passing generation, that spot can never be other than holy 
ground. But we would have it such for our children, and for the long 
train of future generations, who, as they rise up, may thus have their 
thoughts turned more distinctly towards that great servant of God, by 
whose exertions chiefly this society was made what it now is, and whose 
teachings here will, we trust, be familiar to them, in some good degree, as 
they are to us, and sink into their hearts as they have sunk into ours. 
To their pious and faithful care, when we shall be no longer here, we 
therefore commend the monument we have erected over the remains of 
our loved and venerated pastor ; trusting that the duty which will thus 
fall on them may be one of the means, under God's providence, for con- 
tinuing and advancing among them, through all future time, the spirit of 
that religion to which he devoted his life. And to assist and to insure, 
as far as may be in our power, the fulfilment of this duty hereafter, the 
Committee submit the following resolution : — 

" Resolved, That the unexpended balance of the moneys raised for the 
purpose of erecting a monument to the memory of the late Rev. Dr. 
Channing, in the cemetery at Mount Auburn, be paid over to the Treasurer 
of the Proprietors of the Congregational Meeting-house in Federal Street ; 
the Proprietors, on their part, pledging themselves to keep the monument 
in good condition and repair for ever." 



ss 



MEMORIAL OF THE 



Note to Page 39. 

The " Berry-street Conference " took its name from the vestry in 
which, for many years, it held its annual meeting, on the Wednesday 
morning of Anniversary Week. It was a voluntary association of 
ministers, with very little of formal organization. Since its removal 
to the more agreeable accommodation afforded by the Bedford-street 
vestry, it has been known under the name of the " Ministerial Con- 
ference." Dr. Channing delivered the address at the first meeting, 
in 1820, and, in a few sentences, described the purposes entertained 
by those with whom the plan of such an annual assembling of clerical 
brethren had Qriginated : — 

" The views and dispositions which have led to this meeting may easily 
be expressed. It was thought by some of us, that the ministers of this 
Commonwealth, who are known to agree in what are called liberal and 
catholic views of Christianity, needed a bond of union, a means of inter- 
course, and an opportunity of conference, not as yet enjoyed. It was 
thought, that, by meeting to join their prayers and counsels, to report the 
state and prospects of religion in different parts of the Commonwealth, to 
communicate the methods of advancing it which have been found most 
successful, to give warning of dangers not generally apprehended, to seek 
advice in difficulties, and to take a broad survey of our ecclesiastical 
affairs and of the wants of our churches, much light, strength, comfort, 
animation, zeal, would be spread through our body. . . . For these ends, 
it was proposed that an annual meeting should be held, which should be 
spent in prayer, in hearing an address from one of our number, in offer- 
ing reports as to the state of our churches, and in conference as to the 
best methods of advancing religion. ... I have only to add, that, in one 
particular, they were agreed, — that, whilst the meeting should be con- 
fined to those who harmonize generally in opinion, it should be considered 
as having for its object, not simply the advancement of their peculiar 
views, but the general diffusion of practical religion and of the spirit of 
Christianity."' 



Note to Page -iO. 



The several propositions which were made for a change in our 
place of worship, after the inconvenience of the location in Federal 



FEDERAL-STREET MEETING-HOUSE. 



89 



Street had become apparent to many members of the society, were 
unsuccessful, chiefly in consequence of the difficulty of finding 
another situation, at once agreeable and not held at too high a 
price. After many inquiries, and a very thorough consideration of 
the subject, it was finally, on the 1st of October, 1858, " Resolved," at 
a meeting of the Proprietors, by a vote of fifty-six yeas to six nays, 
" that the Prudential Committee are hereby authorized and in- 
structed to make a sale and conveyance of the real estate of the 
proprietors on Federal and Channing Streets." The land on which 
the meeting-house, vestry, and parsonage stood, was accordingly 
sold at public sale, on the 5th day of March, 1859, and, with the 
buildings disposed of at a subsequent sale, yielded the net sum 
of $121,629.32. By a second vote, the same Committee were 
instructed to purchase a " certain lot of land on the corner of 
Boylston Street and the new marginal street, for the purpose of the 
erection of a meeting-house." 



Note to Page 41. 



The exercises of the afternoon of March 13 were conducted by 
ministers who, in their childhood, had belonged to the Federal-street 
congregation, — " sons of the parish ; " who kindly consented, even 
at some personal inconvenience, to take part in our farewell services. 
Another, who had also been of our number in his boyhood (Rev. 
Edward A. Renouf), was unable to be present. 



12 



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